Scarred

Paul Devlin, now a police chief in rural Vermont after being forced to retire from the NYPD, returns to the big city in a clever, well-paced thriller. His old pal, detective Eddie Grogan, asks him to play guardian angel to Adrianna Mendez, Eddie's goddaughter and current target of a serial killer on the loose in New York. Although it is a mite awkward--Adrianna dumped Paul a decade ago because she didn't want to spend her life with a cop--Paul moves in with Adrianna while unofficially aiding Eddie in the investigation, which is hampered by ``political crap'' and a pair of arrogant FBI agents called in by the mayor. Eddie gets psychiatrist Gabrielle Lyons to probe Adrianna's memory for clues while he and Paul take a close look at the fashionable friends Adrianna is making as an up-and-coming artist. But soon the killer makes a new, atypical strike and Paul's old, powerful NYPD enemy catches a whiff of his presence on the case. Although not even the most pessimistic reader can believe that Adrianna will be ushered into the next world, Heffernan ( Blood Rose ) lays out his clues and plot twists with a dark glee that amuses and draws one along in his wake. (Dec.)