WHODUNIT?

REVIEWS BY BRUCE TIERNEY

Evanovich revs it up with NASCAR

Three perennial favorites and one new (to me, at least) writer grace the Whodunit column this month, just in time for mystery aficionados to draw up their Christmas lists!

Romance novel meets NASCAR thriller in Janet Evanovich's Motor Mouth. Nextel Cup driver Sam Hooker is not accustomed to losing, particularly not to flashy loudmouth Dickie Bonnano, but that is just what has happened, and in rather spectacular fashion. A late race accident cut the number of competitive cars down to just two, and the finish was a nail-biter. Still, Hooker lost the race, and with it the points required to win the series. But there may have been some chicanery at the track: NASCAR teams are legendary for their abilities to bend the rules dealing with car specifications, and there is some evidence that Hooker's competitor may have had a little help with his skid control, courtesy of a tiny computer chip fired by remote control from the stands. The action is narrated by Hooker's on-again/off-again (but currently off-again) girlfriend, Alexandra "Barney" Barnaby, who works for Hooker's race team as a "spotter," the person in the stands who keeps the driver informed by radio. Hooker is a Southern boy, a bit of a womanizing rube, but an engaging foil for Barnaby. Their repartee, particularly under duress, provides most of the comic moments of the book, as well as serving as a cornerstone for their tenuous (but nonetheless intense) relationship. Evanovich got her start writing romance novels, and it shows strongly in Motor Mouth. That said, there are enough fast cars and buxom babes to keep the boys happy too.


End of a marriage

Perri O'Shaughnessy, the pen name for the sister team (Pamela and Mary O'Shaughnessy) that turns out the critically acclaimed Nina Reilly series, is back with a stand-alone suspense novel titled Keeper of the Keys. Architect Ray Jackson, by most measures, has a storybook life: a cool job with a trendy L.A. architectural firm, a beautiful wife, a lovely home in tony Topanga Canyon. But all that is about to change. When he arrives home one evening, his wife Leigh has disappeared; there is no note, no phone call, nada. Ray is worried, but not inordinately so, at least not at first. The two had had a bitter argument after Ray discovered that Leigh had been having an affair with Ray's business partner, so if Leigh wanted to be somewhere else, well, that was fine with Ray. Leigh's father, however, is a cop, and he wants to know where his daughter has gone; Leigh's girlhood friend Kat has some questions about Leigh's disappearance as well. Both of them suspect that Ray has done something awful, perhaps something deadly, to Leigh. And so the noose begins to tighten. Reluctantly, Ray Jackson embarks on a search for his missing wife. What he finds will change his life, and the lives of those close to him, forever. On the minus side: the characters are not as involving as those in O'Shaughnessy's well-received Nina Reilly series, and the plot is a bit contrived. On the plus side: There are some slick twists, and the ending is quite a surprise; even hardcore fans will likely not tip to it much before the author intends.


Silent in the grave

Reporter Irene Kelly is back in Jan Burke's Kidnapped. Kelly's latest adventure finds our heroine hard at work on a story about kidnapped children. One story in particular has tugged at the heartstrings of her Las Piernas Express readers: the sad tale of Jenny Fletcher, age three, who disappeared five years back, shortly after the murder of her father, Richard, a prominent graphic artist. Jenny's stepbrother, Mason, was convicted of the crime, and sent to prison, but Jenny never turned up. She is presumed, both by her family and the general public, to be dead. However, her brother Caleb is convinced that she is alive, and that Mason was not responsible for Richard's death. Caleb is now a graduate student working with the forensic anthropologists of the Las Piernas police department. When human bones are unearthed at a nearby estate, Caleb Fletcher and Irene Kelly are drawn together in their search for the truth about Jenny's disappearance and Richard's murder. Burke's books are all well plotted, with involving and likable characters, and Kidnapped is no exception.


MYSTERY OF THE MONTH

Top marks to veteran screenwriter Robert Ward for his provocative psychological thriller Four Kinds of Rain, this month's Tip of the Ice Pick Award winner. Four Kinds of Rain arrived at my house in a large box of books, all candidates for review. I was moved to check out the book by virtue of the blurbs on the back cover, all from writers I admire greatly and read regularly: George Pelecanos, Michael Connelly, T. Jefferson Parker, James Crumley. And yes, I am a sucker for a good blurb every bit as much as the next guy!

More than 20 years back, Ward won the PEN West prize for best novel of the year for Red Baker. Shortly thereafter, he was approached by a Hollywood producer to write for the television show "Hill Street Blues," and went on to write episodes of "Miami Vice," "New York Undercover" and "The Division." Now he returns to the literary scene with a clever noir mystery about a psychologist-turned-criminal.

Bob Wells has always been a "good guy." His college buddies all went on to successful careers, big houses, fancy cars. Bob, on the other hand, stayed in a seedy section of his hometown of Baltimore to administer psychological treatment to the homeless, the indigent, the needy. It cost him his financial security and, ultimately, his marriage. Now his life has hit the skids, and he needs one big score. When one of his few paying patients, Emile Bardan, spins a fanciful and paranoid story of a legendary mask, supposedly worth millions (and currently residing in Bardan's house), Bob realizes that the solution to his problems is at hand: He will steal Bardan's mask, and use the proceeds to fund a new life for himself far away from Baltimore. He rationalizes the action by telling himself that he deserves this new chance, reward for all the pro bono good he has done over the years. Then things go horribly awry, and that's all I am going to tell you!


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