cover image The Prosecutor

The Prosecutor

Thomas Chastain. William Morrow & Company, $20 (191pp) ISBN 978-0-688-10088-9

When politically connected prosecutor Anne Gilman is handed the job as Manhattan's first woman DA, she finds herself holding a mixed bag of major crimes that at first seem unrelated. John Holland, the head of the Organized Crime Task Force, infiltrates the Irish mafia with Callie Brinnin, a sexy black undercover cop, to solve the riddle of disappearing Italian mafiosione or several? of one, change to `mafioso' if several, omit `a'/ need answer for this query/pre, 9-21 . An assistant DA has spotty evidence and not enough time to nail a slippery lonelyhearts serial killer. Things get rockier when Internal Affairs tells Anne that one of Holland's men is spying for the wiseguys and that her special investigator for a high-profile murder case is playing footsie with the widow. Although Anne survives these trials, she wobbles when her longtime affair with a colleague is brought to light and she is framed for covering up a felony. A hands-on DA, Anne goes on stakeouts and busts--a practice that lands her, and Callie, in desperate straits when their cases intersect. Chastain ( Perry Mason in the Case of the Burning Bequest ) fits a few surprises and an impressive number of characters into this slight tale, but breaks no new ground. (Nov.)