Tattoo

A detailed look at the decidedly unglamorous life of a Southern California plastic surgeon gives this first effort an unusual edge. Gareth Lloyd, M.D., splits his time between repairing accident victims at local hospitals and trying--largely in vain--to persuade his private patients in an L.A. suburb called Greenfield (which reads a lot like Pasadena) to have the kind of expensive nips and tucks so popular in Beverly Hills. Divorced, behind in his support payments for his two daughters and about to turn 40, Lloyd's main connection to the moneyed world of plastic surgery is the affair he has just ended with the wife of a prominent facelifter-to-the-stars named Jack Ehrenberger. When Dr. Ehrenberger is murdered, Lloyd becomes one of the suspects. Some of this tale's originality is lost as Lloyd predictably initiates his own investigation and, with equal predictability, becomes a target of the killer. But Britto--a plastic surgeon who lives in Whittier, Calif.--writes in a brisk, energetic style about things like art, pottery collecting and how to fix your own broken nose, so the unexceptional twists of plotting become easier to accept as part of lively, promising whole. (June)