The Dollmaker's Daughters: A Bo Bradley Mystery

Bo Bradley, 41, works for San Diego's Child Protective Services and suffers from a manic-depressive illness which she controls with medication. Bo's fifth appearance (following Moonbird Boy, 1996) is an uneven tale in which the investigator draws on her own experience, as she has in the previous entries in this generally commendable series, to establish rapport with others who are troubled. Here, she reaches out to 15-year-old Janny Malcolm, a child in foster care who is found in a catatonic state at a popular vampire-theme club. A battered antique doll is chained to Janny's wrist. Against all departmental rules, Bo befriends Janny and picks up a 13-year-long trail of child abuse, deceit and murder that may involve the Child Protective Services at the highest level. And when Bo discovers that her fusty and judgmental supervisor has secretly attended the closed funeral of Janny's identical twin (dead after 13 years in an assault-induced coma), her investigative instincts get into high hear. This story is rich in atmosphere, and Bo, with her heightened psychological insight and empathy, makes a compelling sleuth. But melodramatic plot twists and an excess of bizarre behavior explained in mini-avalanches of psychobabble interrupt the suspense and continually knock the narrative off its track. Author tour. (Feb.)