cover image A CONFIDENTIAL SOURCE

A CONFIDENTIAL SOURCE

Jan Brogan, . . Mysterious, $24.95 (340pp) ISBN 978-0-89296-007-1

Journalist Brogan's taut, well-written second mystery (after 2001's Final Copy ) introduces Hallie Ahearn, a down-on-her-luck reporter who has left Boston, Mass., for Rhode Island, a small state with big-time corruption. A trip to the local convenience store lands Ahearn right in the middle of a fatal robbery. Family man and convenience store owner Barry Mazursky gets a bullet in his forehead, and Ahearn—quavering and unseen behind an Italian biscuit display—gets drawn into the crime as friend, eavesdropper and investigator. It seems that the shooting may not be the random act of punks or petty criminals but something more sinister. People high and low in the food chain have a lot to lose, including Mazursky's family, corrupt Providence mayor Bill Lopresti, talk-radio jock Leonard Marianni and state-lottery honcho Gregory Ayers. Brogan does a good job of creating a bristling plot and likable characters, while dosing the whole novel with elements of humor and satire that are original, accurate and unexpected. Altogether, this is a fine New England concoction, like a fresh lobster roll liberally laced with arsenic. Agent, Dan Mandel at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Apr. 20)