Lightning in the Blood

Former PI Fallis debuts with a fresh, slightly off-the-wall tale narrated by a pair of sleuths who demonstrate the staying power for a series. Kevin Sweeney, an ex-cop, is a solid, dependable Irishman who has settled into domesticity with his beloved wife, Mary Margaret. Joop Wheeler, an ex-reporter, is a ``proper Southern boy'' who regularly falls in and out of love. Together, they form a Boston-area PI firm that is hired to help poet Anka Stiffel beat an attempted murder rap. The morning after Anka and her former lover, sculptor Amanda Owen, had a ``face-slapping, hair-pulling'' fight at a lesbian bar, a next-door neighbor found Amanda unconscious in her yard. Hit on the head with a stone sculpture, Amanda remains unconscious. Anka claims she was elsewhere, spending the night with a woman whose name she doesn't remember--but, then, Anka is also a schizophrenic who hears voices. To help a client who can't help them, Kevin and Joop rely on compassion, doggedness and a dollop of luck while exploring the estranged lovers' lives and the local lesbian scene (where they're not entirely welcome). To them, it's a tough case; for the reader, it's a page-turner that leavens its puzzle of pain and sorrow with a dose of lively humor. (June)