This Blessed Plot

Once private investigator, now solicitor for a British law firm, Lennox Kemp juggles clients at two extremes of the social scale when he is given the problems of a welfare recipient and those of aristocratic twin heirs in this diverting seventh installment ( A Loose Connection ). Disheveled mother Julie Sorrento announces that her Sicilian husband, Luciano, hasn't come home, so the Department for Social Security sends her to Kemp to see if he can locate her missing mate. Later, Kemp attends a swank cocktail party where he meets twins Vivian and Venetia Courtenay, who elicit his help in converting their newly acquired ancestral home into a site for big-money rock music festivals. Kemp passes the missing man case to his clerk and consults the firm's founder, aging Archie Gillorn, about the provisions of the Courtenay Trust. Putting together clues from both cases, Kemp (``I'm insatiably curious'') realizes a connection and finds himself in physical danger. Meek again demonstrates her deft wit and her keen talent for ironic situations in this enticing, low-key mystery. (Feb.)