Chinese Restaurants Never Serve Breakfast

Dedicated to ""Mayor Eastwood,'' this mystery is set in Carmel, Calif., the tourist-ridden artists' colony to which private investigator Patrick Riordan has moved his agency from San Francisco. His first case involves trailing the latest wife of a wealthy, alcoholic blueblood. In no time, a friend drags him to the scene of a bizarre murder: one-time artist Sheila Lord is reclined naked on a sofa with an artist's palette knife stuck in her neck and a painting of the scene resting on a nearby easel. Riordan follows these cases, which in the end are connected with drug running, dark family secrets and professional and personal jealousies. While some characters are shallowly drawn, others are vivid and sharp. And although the author at times strains for effect, the narrator has an engaging, naive charm. Gilligan also conveys the locale effectively. (July)