Deadly Allies II

Drawing on talent from two mystery-writers groups, the Private Eye Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, this follow-up collection offers pairs of thematically linked short stories. While the first Deadly Allies garnered three award nominations and one winner, the star power of this sequel, while still impressive, is slightly muted. Readers would do well here to pick a juicy subject from those offered--including acting, architecture and rejected lovers--and then check out the two entries. Con games provide the springboard for John Lutz and Sarah Shankman. Lutz showcases his St. Louis shamus Alo Nudger tracking a woman glimpsed in a bus window; Shankman dips into her latest Samantha Adams novel He Was Her Man , to detail a classic bait-and-switch with a glamorous girl in a fancy car and an old hooker now owning an Arkansas gas station. Mining the premise that guilty husbands always make good killers, Marcia Muller and Maxine O'Callaghan explore the elusive nature of alibis as each of their entries features a wife dying messily. Among others on hand are Max Allan Collins, Les Roberts, Faye Kellerman and Marilyn Wallace. (Apr.)