If 6 Were 9: A ""Militant"" Mystery

With a well-received memoir (Bourgeois Blues) and two thought-provoking novels (the political thriller The Last Integrationist and the mainstream Close to the Bone) to his credit, Lamar brings the same serious concerns to his first mystery. After an incident that leads to his disgrace as a journalist, black writer Clay Robinette retreats to a post at Ohio's Arden University, a happy marriage and twin girls. His only misstep is a short affair with Pirate Jenny, a pretty student. When Jenny is strangled to death, the initial suspicion falls on another professor, Reggie Brogus, a former famous black radical now turned ultraright political shill. Reggie amply demonstrates his guilt by fleeing town. It might all have been just a bad dream for Clay, but his infidelity is exposed and Reggie's political persuasion comes into serious question. Part mystery, part academic satire and part socioracial examination, this novel never quite satisfies on any level. Since Reggie evolves into the novel's central character, the real mystery might be whether he's a true revolutionary or a secret government operative. Either way he's a wildly overblown character study. Equally implausible is the laughably cartoon Britishness of Roger Pym-Smithers, Clay's confidante and the husband of one of Reggie's more vocal critics on campus. Clay's character lacks definition, Reggie and Roger probably have too much, and poor Jenny is soon all but forgotten in a narrative hamstrung by a few too many laudable intentions. (Jan. 30)