The Mother Murders

This posthumous sequel to Gilbert's The Black Star Murders bursts into action immediately and keeps up the pace until the finale. Narrator Matt Doyle and his fellow private detectives perform valiantly under stern orders from their chief, elegant Carter Winfield, a retired Secretary of State. Winfield's implacable foe, Inspector Dixon of the San Diego police, arrests the investigators' partner and friend, Dirk Bomande, on suspicion that he murdered his stepmother, Marlee Reynaud. All-out efforts to clear Dirk make Matt in particular vulnerable to killers who include Roscoe Blaise, a crook who had employed Marlee; Tina Kline, a drug dealer masquerading as a movie producer; and others known to the murdered woman. Close encounters of a lethal kind make grand entertainment culminating in the celebration to welcome Dirk home with the ``all for one, one for all'' brotherhood. The readers' enjoyment, however, will be mixed with regret that this is the last of Gilbert's books. (Mar.)