Professional Angel

About the Book

Kelly Johanson is an ordinary mid-thirtyish woman enjoying her position as feature writer for a newspaper when a tragic event thrusts her into a quagmire that tests her mettle to the utmost.

Like most middle class suburbanites, she is blind to the proliferation of drugs under her nose-more accurately-the noses of her two teen-aged daughters-until her beloved niece turns up dead from a drug overdose.

A bruised and battered Carly is dumped off at the hospital DOA from a drug overdose and Kelly is called in to identify her body.  She finds an unsigned probation card in Carly’s pocket, surprised because she did not know Carly was on probation.  She discovers the recidivism rate for probations is 80%.  Why is this para-police agency such a failure?  Where do the Carlys go for rehabilitation?

There is only one way she knows to find out and she takes it.  With the reluctant okay of her editor, but the opposition of her husband, she goes undercover as probation officer for Los Angeles County.  She finds the little known Correctional agency a mismanaged colossus.  When she stumbles onto a sex-drug ring operating in her office with deadly results to juveniles, she is unable to bring her supervisors to search out the culprits.  This forces her to take matters into her own hands.  With the help of a stunning reformed heroin addict turned savior, and a feisty policewoman, she cracks this operation of a trio of attorneys providing drugs and free legal representation to attractive girls in exchange for sexual favors.  These men, also responsible for Carly’s death, are brought to justice by her efforts.

Kelly turns in her report to the newspaper and is free to return to her position there or remain with the Probation Department since she has passed her own 60-day probation trial.  Her final decision is based on a lesson about being true to herself, a lesson just learned the hard way.

About the Author