Eulogy for a Brown Angel: A Mystery Novel

A haze of dazzlingly evocative prose very nearly hides this first mystery's slack plotting. Corpi's ear for Latino rhythms and her feminist leanings produce some original and highly charged narrative moments. But plot still matters. In 1970, a three-year-old boy dies on an L.A. street during the unrest of the National Chicano Moratorium. Gloria Damasco finds the body, alerts the police and befriends the child's family. From here on, Corpi breezes through the action. The only key witness, a street gang member, is killed; then Kenyon, the cop on the case, zeroes in on Gloria's photographer friend as a suspect for no apparent reason. Corpi, a poet, gives her sleuth occasional clairvoyant moments that lead towards the killer and provide hints of subtle menace. Although careful readers might anticipate the solution and wish for a few more suspects, Corpi expands the genre with this work of small triumphs. (Aug.)