cover image Sunset and Santiago

Sunset and Santiago

Gloria White. Dell Publishing Company, $5.5 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-440-22326-9

In the fourth mystery featuring Ronnie Ventana (including 1996 Edgar Best Paperback nominee Charged with Guilt), finds the San Francisco PI entangled in a murder investigation somehow connected to the mysterious deaths of her parents in a car accident 20 years before. Ventana sees someone dump a body near the same spot, but the police seem reluctant to look into the case and in fact downplay the identification of a possible suspect. As ever, the dialogue (especially that between Ventana and her trusty associate Blackie) is clever and entertaining, and readers will sympathize with Ventana's fierce desire to understand what happened to her family. But the action isn't as fast as in earlier books, and many of Ventana's relationships with other characters seem forced. (Jan.)