Twisted Justice

Det. Sgt. Gerry Stone of the Kent police is not a crooked cop, but when his car fits the description of one involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident on the night his son Andy was driving, his paternal instincts win over the law. Although hard-pressed to believe Andy's story of a car-jacking by two men who forced him at knife point to drink until he was unconscious, Stone nevertheless begins his own surreptitious probe of events. But before long the police investigation leads straight-arrow Det. Insp. Kemp to Andy. Readers know the IRA may be involved, but Kemp and Stone aren't clued in until antiterrorist higher-ups from New Scotland Yard warn them off. After Stone's wife is nearly killed by a bomb, he and Kemp apply smart police work to solve the puzzle. Veteran Ashford ( An Illegal Solution and 28 other books) knows his procedures and psychology, which he plumbs with precise, spare prose. Readers will relish the neat, satisfying ending with its nifty final twist. (Apr.)