Happy Never After

Callahan Garrity, who runs a cleaning service in Atlanta and performs an occasional investigation, gets an intriguing glimpse of music-industry exploitation and corruption when she's hired to find a member of her favorite singing group of the '60s, the VelvetTeens. Hoping to make a comeback, Vonette Hunsecker and her cousin Rita Fontaine want Callahan to find Rita's sister, Delores, who left the group in 1967. The case gets more complicated when Rita, who has scrapped in public with Stuart Hightower, the still-flourishing manager and producer who used up the VelvetTeens and tossed them aside, is found snoozing by his pool, reeking of scotch and holding the gun that has killed him. Callahan's investigations reveal a host of folks nursing grudges against Hightower, among them his ex-wife, who once tried to burn down his house. Callahan is good company, even when her ongoing relationship with Mac McAuliffe hits the skids and takes her self-esteem with it. But the real lure, compensating for the too many moments of strained humor, is the look at the people who are the cannon fodder for the hit parade. Earlier titles include Every Crooked Nanny and Homemade Sin. (May)