Frozen Stare

At first it looks like a simple missing persons case. Jack Grant, tough infantryman turned Los Angeles private detective, is hired to hunt down a ``friend'' of one Joseph Gomercio. But the assignment turns nasty when someone drowns Gomercio in a tub of ice water. That should signal the end of the case for Jack, but it's just the start: two more frozen bodies later, a clear pattern emerges, perhaps involving an exceptionally brutal organized-crime figure named Carlos Ruiz. Jack must tread carefully as he tries to find the meaning of the ice motif, and discover why each of the victims apparently ate a last supper of lentils before meeting his fate. Longer on plot device than on motivation and character, this tale, in the California private eye tradition, has a rousing finish and is an enjoyable read. It is a first novel for Schwartz, dean of the Graduate School at Georgetown University. (Dec.)