It Happened at Two in the Morning

Lawyer Tom Weldon, the hero of this chaotic crime novel from Hruska (Pardon the Ravens), quits his Manhattan firm after learning late one night that he won’t be made partner. On the street outside his office, Tom spots two men jump out of a car: one grabs playwright Elena Riles, and the other goes after her wealthy entrepreneur father, Robertson Riles. Tom runs to Elena’s rescue, but he’s punched in the head and blacks out. When he wakes up, he discovers that he and Elena have been dropped somewhere in rural Pennsylvania. They break into an abandoned farmhouse, where they turn on a radio and hear on the news that police are looking for them as the principal suspects in Robertson’s murder. The huge cast of characters includes corrupt businessmen, foreign spies, and a gorgeous killer masquerading as a kept woman. It’s a lot to juggle, and the plot soon bogs down as Tom and Elena display an almost infallible ability to figure out solutions to every problem they face on the run. Still, some readers will appreciate the old-fashioned romance that develops between them. (Nov.)