The Jinx

Racial hatred unites the fictional descendants of a Georgia Scottish clan in this far-fetched but engaging conspiracy drama. In 1840, when General William Henry Harrison hung the MacDougall family patriarch for murdering a runaway slave, the nine MacDougall children plotted a complex vendetta. They and their descendants have lived under assumed names and, as ""The Royal Knights of the Millennium,"" aim for a presidential death in office every 20 years, beginning with Harrison--the ""Jinx"" of the title. The vendetta is immortalized in a cryptic poem passed from father to son, which hints at the family's goals: vengeance, the racial provocation of a second civil war and the ethnic cleansing of American blacks on the cusp of the Millennium. When a balking Knight is murdered in the late 1990s, the poem accidentally falls into the hands of novice estate lawyer Ben Kravner, who connects the verse to the death of the Knight, one of his firm's clients. Recovery of the Knight's wallet yields the code names of his fellow conspirators, who all hold critical positions in government and the military. Investigating the mystery on the Internet, Ben is aided by love interest Debby Barnett, a legal staffer who, it is soon revealed, is the daughter of another dead Knight. The investigation leads to Debby's capture and a setup that discredits Ben and sends him running for his life from the FBI. Kahn explores race relations on every level--examining interracial love affairs, black radical groups and white supremacist organizations. Though he relies heavily on the Internet as a plot device, fast-paced action scenes move the drama along at a good clip. For readers willing to suspend disbelief, Kahn's debut effort packs a punch. 3000 printing. (Jan.)