cover image Woman in the Dark

Woman in the Dark

T. J. Phillips. Berkley Publishing Group, $21.95 (280pp) ISBN 978-0-425-15312-3

Possessed of one of the odder career combinations in the genre, New York City playwright and PI Joe Wilder, who debuted in Dance of the Mongoose (1995), returns in a plot that makes up in complexity for what it lacks in probability. Emma Smith, heiress to the Masterson appliance fortune, is being stalked. Since her mother was murdered 16 years earlier, when Emma was a girl of 15, there may be something especially sinister afoot. A twisted appliance repairman with lots of time on his hands? A family member who stands to benefit financially, perhaps Emma's younger sister? Even the girls' father, remarried and with nothing to gain from his daughter's death, isn't spared a searching look. By taking on the case, Wilder also takes on murder past and future. While the man convicted of the mother's murder died in prison, Wilder wonders if justice was done. Phillips works from an intriguing and deftly handled premise that offers plenty of opportunity for Wilder to probe Emma's privileged life and describe every elegant interior he enters in Manhattan's posh Upper East Side and the outlying well-heeled suburbs. The generally appealing characters, however, are less authoritatively handled and sometimes act in unlikely ways; and emotions of loss and nostalgia are so prevalent throughout the book that they lose their punch by the time matters come to their hokey denouement. Also annoying is Wilder's habit of announcing that he has figured out another piece in the puzzle and then failing to share the details with the reader. Despite these caveats, Phillips spins a gripping, eye-catching tale. (Feb.)