A Tight Lie

Golf fans will probably best appreciate Dahler's debut, narrated by pro golfer Huck Doyle, a nonpracticing attorney who works as a PI in Los Angeles. When someone bludgeons aspiring actress Holly Ann Cramer with a cappuccino machine, then stabs her in the heart six times, Holly's boyfriend, Joniel Baker, a star African-American baseball player, becomes the prime suspect. Huck, a friend of Joniel's, undertakes to exonerate the accused, even after a second body surfaces that bears traces of the athlete's DNA. Huck enlists the help of a motley group of allies, ranging from an attractive female medical examiner to his father, a former LAPD cop. Some infelicitous prose (“His voice was low, like a shift in the tectonic plates”) and a familiar planted-evidence plot device ensure that no one will mistake this caper for a Dick Francis outing. Still, many will enjoy the company of the garrulous Huck with his passion for golf and eye for the telling social or cultural detail. (Mar.)