Murder by Mail

Lake ( A Gift for Murder ) turns in another fine performance that has campus cop Peggy O'Neill probing some of the more unsavory dealings of a prosperous university department. While walking her beat in the wee hours, Peggy finds a psychology graduate student in his car, dead of a gunshot wound. The death looks like suicide, and Peggy quickly turns her attention to another matter: her co-workers, Paula Henderson and Lawrence Fitzpatrick, are being targeted by a hate mailer who objects to their interracial relationship. Peggy is suspiciously eying Harold Mullen, a racist neighbor with a penchant for conspiracy theories, when his house burns down--with him in it. Police say the fire was accidental, but Peggy's curiosity is piqued, especially since a bit of nosing about reveals that Harold left his money to the university through a living trust and private channels that effectively obscure what became of it. Peggy, as clever and winning as ever, determinedly works her way to the center of an intriguing puzzle while Lake deftly balances some of the work's darker aspects on racism and hate mail with his display of sly wit, particularly when he needles psych departments. (Dec.)