Fair Game

After a slow, ho-hum start, husband-and-wife writing team Janice and Ronn Kaiser (Private Sins) come up with enough plot twists and turns to delight armchair sleuths. Dana Kirk, an ambitious California real estate broker who has just reached the pinnacle of her career, finds the top a scary place when someone threatens her and her daughter. Detective Mitchell Cross, a country recluse and a weekend cowboy, is assigned to the case. Cross is attracted to Dana but feels he' s out of her financial and social league. The soap opera format continuously switches between different characters' points of view, and the pacing tends to be jerky--making keeping track of who did what to whom a serious but not insurmountable challenge. (Mar.)