Down for the Count

Conflicts of the heart cause Delilah West as much trouble as the combined mayhem stirred up by a crazed shooter and a kidnapper in the sixth adventure (after Trade Off, 1994) of this hard-boiled, tenderhearted Southern California PI. When a lone gunman goes on a shooting spree at the mall where Delilah is shopping with nine-year-old Isabel Sanchez, the PI manages to take out the killer while keeping her anonymity intact. A major motivation for keeping her role secret is her already uncomfortably high-profile romance with wealthy Orange County developer Erik Lundstrom. Delilah is not able, however, to escape the notice of a vicious kidnapper who, taking advantage of her reluctant attempts to get to know Erik's hostile teenage daughter, Nicki, nabs the two of them during a luncheon outing. While struggling to navigate romance, her ambivalence about marriage (and potential stepmotherhood), Delilah must also, in captivity, combat stun-gun zaps and near-starvation, which she does successfully, although never, to O'Callaghan's credit, quite on cue. Released to facilitate the delivery of the ransom, Delilah returns to her search for the missing father of another young friend and ends up back in the middle of the kidnapping scheme. Chock-full of credible romantic seesawing, the tale pulls off the dual tasks of delivering clean, springy action and a colorful cast of supporting characters. Best of all is the appealing, brassy and vulnerable Delilah--who enters new emotional territory on the final page. (Nov.)