Angel's Cove

Harry Rice owns the Sand Bar, a beachfront drinking spot in Florida where Carla Meadows tends bar. Carla's hippie father, Charlie, has been found dead in the sleepy Texas coastal town of Angel's Cove, and Carla has rushed home. Then, sounding weird and scared, she leaves a message on Harry's answering machine, saying that her father's death certificate has him a croaker before her last phone conversation with him. Harry, a goodhearted guy who was once a PI, quickly heads to Angel's Cove to offer help. After the obligatory Floridian environmental riffs, Pedrazas's second novel in the series (after the The Harry Chronicles, winner of the 1995 PWA/St. Martin's Best First Private Eye Novel) finds its groove. Angel's Cove isn't as tranquil a hamlet as it initially appears. A bad cop with a video camera hopes to get on true-crime tabloid TV. A mausoleum business drums up trade with high-tech infomercials and a charismatic saleswoman named Sister Star; sundry disgruntled local fishermen are pissed off at the new net laws. Charlie had a reputation for telling the truth; so did Joe, the police chief, who dies in a manner a lot like Charlie. A nubile, well-read barmaid named Babycakes and a nubile, resourceful newspaperwomen named Gillian Gable are seemly diversions, but neither can overpower the improbably slick patter of the narrating Harry. Pedrazas slumps a little with this sophomore effort. (Nov.)