James Hack Tuke: A Memoir (1899)

Selina Porter, a woman in her fifties, and a widow who operates a private investigation service, gets a phone call from her grown son, Brian, who works for the New Orleans drug task force. He tells her he has something he wants to discuss with her, but not on the telephone. She arranges for her assistant to take over while she is away. Once there, she finds his house unlocked, his bedroom is vandalized twice, and someone burns his barn. She meets three young ladies who have been Brianas former girlfriends. A murder occurs at one girlas house. Selina receives threats, and when she is on the way to New Orleans to drive by her sonas workplace, she is forced into an exit guardrail, then shot at. A talented hypnotist works his evil on several people, and she meets a detective who becomes interested in her personally.