cover image Silver Scapel

Silver Scapel

Nancy Baker Jacobs. Putnam Publishing Group, $21.95 (223pp) ISBN 978-0-399-13834-8

In a gripping feminist mystery that's sure to raise a few hackles, Jacobs ( A Slash of Scarlet ) pits series sleuth Devon MacDonald against a posse of right-wing vigilantes. After two women die in the firebombing of a Minnesota medical center where abortions are performed, PI MacDonald is hired by Monica Hammond to find her 16-year-old sister, Kerry, who has vanished. The sisters' puritanical parents believe Kerry has gone to church camp, but Monica says Kerry had spoken of ``a friend'' who wanted to end a pregnancy. In Kerry's ultra-conservative hometown, MacDonald encounters a large right-to-life contingent led by a hypocritical, money-grubbing minister and is soon assaulted (with the blade of the title) by two rabidly ``pro-life'' men. While some readers may reject Jacobs' damning portrayals of religious zealots and anti-abortion tactics, her depictions of such events as a right-to-life meeting and a blockade of a women's clinic are even-handed. With a savvy heroine, unremitting action and a final twist of the plot, Jacobs adroitly constructs her mystery around a smoldering topic. (May)