Fetish: A Carl Pedersen Mystery

This fast-paced contemporary mystery gets too tangled up in its plot to be really entertaining. In a small, upscale town near San Francisco, three middle-aged womentwo widows and a divorceeagree in a moment of inebriated good humor to place an ad in the personals for a weekend lover they could all share. It seems they have hit the jackpot when attractive, charming Paul Shapiro answers their ad and agrees to meet them one at a time. Sally Robinson, with three divorces behind her, is the first; her friends Zora Hirsch and Eileen Brande will sample him next. But shortly after her meeting with Paul, Sally is murdered, her head crushed by a bronze fetish figure from Nigeria. Persistent, likable detective Carl Pederson plunges into the increasingly complex investigation and tries to interview Eileen and Zora, both of whom have suddenly become very tight-lipped. Nothing is what it appears to be in this slim volume; unfortunately, the final chapters are needlessly misleading and confusing. (August 18)