Jinx

Droll humor and breezy repartee spark the action in this fast-paced, smartly plotted debut mystery. When Kit Powell, newswriter for a San Diego TV station, is promoted on-camera as she is delivering a sports commentary, little does she suspect that her new assignment will be murder--literally. Scarcely a month into the job, while covering a California Sharks football game, Kit looks on in horror as Barry Bludhoff, the team's general manager, is killed in a fall from his skybox seat. Was the fall accidental? Was Bludhoff pushed? And what relationship, if any, does his death have to the mysterious jinx that has plagued the team for years? Kit's journalistic curiosity lands her hot on the trail of a number of memorable suspects, most notably Barry's bubblehead widow and her ex-lover, the Sharks' disgruntled second-string quarterback. A romantic link with the police detective assigned to the case nicely joins together Kit's personal and professional lives as the clues add up to an exciting and credible conclusion. (Dec.)