Murder in the 11th House: A Starlight Detective Agency Mystery

Lewis's winning debut, the first in a new series, introduces New York City detective David Lowell, a highly intelligent, intuitive sleuth who's also an astrologer. Lowell uses birth charts and other tools of the astrologist to help his defense attorney daughter, Melinda, who's trying to determine who blew up Farrah Winston, a debt claims judge in lower Manhattan. All the evidence points toward brash bartender Joanna "Johnny" Colbert, who happens to be a military bomb expert as well as Melinda's pro bono client. But Lowell, after meeting the accused and examining her apartment, believes Joanna is innocent and arranges to get her out of Riker's Island on bail. Like Sherlock Holmes, the eccentric Lowell makes deductions that astound or offend those privileged to hear them. Lewis, himself a practicing astrologer, leavens the action with just the right amount of technical exposition ("Venus squares Neptune in the natal chart"). (Sept.)