SEX, A MYSTERY

Quirina's stylish debut combines a solid mystery, a refreshingly different heroine, a splendid supporting cast and enough sparkle to keep the pages turning. After a whistle-blowing episode derails her first career as a senior marketing vice-president for a major conglomerate, successful Harvard MBA Lydia Quess segues happily into the well-paid role of sexual surrogate (or "courtesan," as she prefers) under the tutelage of a former school chum who's now a sex therapist. Her new career allows her to maintain the Fifth Avenue duplex she shares with unorthodox priest Paddy Riordin in a strictly platonic way. Lydia shares her charms with a relatively steady stable of clients, until one of them is found murdered in her bed. Given the narrow window of opportunity for the murder, she, her wealthy and powerful clients and her way of life become suspect. Quirina handles Manhattan chic with assurance while treating the subjects of prostitution, sexual dysfunction and surrogacy with candor, humor and aplomb. Hopefully, Lydia will make many more appearances—and future entries in the series will have more imaginative titles. Agent, Howard Morhaim. (Mar. 1)