Until the End of Time: An Ike and Abby Abagnarro Mystery

Whitney (Until Death) brings back the divorced team of TV producer and rollerblader Abby Abagnarro and his former wife, news director Ike Tygart, in a witty and provocative look at TV news. The city's latest serial killer, called the Yellow Man for his trademark painting of his victims' faces, doesn't garner lots of coverage because his targets are vagrants. But then Abby is mugged by a homeless man who says he has a story to tell; and, soon after, a doctor who recently appeared on Ike and Abby's show to promote a book opposing long FDA testing of new drugs is found murdered, with his face painted. Following their journalists' instincts, Ike and Abby discover that the dead doctor had been feuding with his co-authors, who are also his relatives, and they begin to wonder whether, and how, the doctor's death may be related to the other serial killings. Whitney skates deftly through the maze of deadlines, backbiting and fragile relationships at the TV station while untangling the meaning of the murders on the streets in this briskly paced, absorbing mystery. (Aug.)