Strangers at the Gate

Hong Kong crime comes to San Francisco in this political/police procedural that begins with the mutilation of a San Francisco newscaster by unidentified Asians. The burden of solving the crime falls upon Captain Zachary Tobias of the Gang Task Force of the SFPD. Though Tobias is laden by Gross (coauthor with Pierre Salinger of Mortal Games) with would-be idiosyncrasies (being a Jewish cop, for one), he's not so unique: his independent wealth is shared by a number of other fictional cops, including David Lindsey's Stuart Haydon, and how many cop-heroes aren't idealist liberals in a corrupt system? Nor will readers be surprised when Gross is told by the police chief, ``You're off the Maggie Winehouse case.... And stay the hell away from Jimmy Chang. Those are orders.'' But Tobias is at least persistent, following clues from the waterfront right up to the toniest houses on the hill, with stops in Hong Kong and Vancouver. Meanwhile, Gross showers, and sometimes inundates, the narrative with detail about various locales and their endemic crimes. Excepting the author's chilly, cliched excursions into character, this impressively well-researched story simmers along smartly, bringing into dramatic focus the ongoing influx of Hong Kong criminals into the U.S. in the face of the impending 1997 takeover by China. (Aug.)