The Interactive Dishwasher

Illegal handgun wanted?

I was a little disconcerted to see the following posted to a Usenet newsgroup I read regularly:

Is there anybody on RAM who knows a lot about handguns? I'm here at home with a sick child, and on orders not to go out for 48 hours in case I've got it too and infect somebody before the antibiotics kick in, so I figure I'd work, but it turns out that nobody who lives with me knows the first thing about handguns. Rifles, yes. Military ordinance, yes. Handguns, no.

I need something small enough to be handled successfully by a middle aged women not used to handling guns of any kind, that might be sold illegally.

As soon as I saw who had posted the article, my concerns vanished and I realized the reason for the query. The newgroup in question was rec.arts.mystery (the RAM in the text), and the poster was Jane Haddam, a writer of mystery novels and frequent poster to the newsgroup.

Jane has written 23 novels about retired FBI agent Gregor Demarkian. I have only read two of them (so far; I plan to get the rest), Not A Creature Was Stirring and Precious Blood. Jane's web site is http://www.janehaddam.com/.