Precinct Command

When conservative Tennessee congresswoman Cora Davis is bludgeoned to death in a New York City hotel room, Lieutenant Joe Dante investigates. However, Dante and the other cops on the case are less central to this winning murder mystery than are the many interesting political figures involved. These include a fellow Republican's wife with a secret wild past as a Manahattan model; Davis's husband, a televangelist with hidden political aspirations of his own; and the ambitious young head of Tennessee's Republican party. Newman ( 19th Precinct ) throws in a few New York City scene-makers for good measure: the lead singer of a heavy metal band called Crucifixion, who debated Davis about censoring rock lyrics shortly before her death; and a fallen eighties writer whose apartment remains exactly as it was when his flash-in-the-pan opus was published a decade ago and who now makes his living taking photographs for tabloids. The story is well paced, although a few details never come to fruition. The plot twists with agility, but the contrivances of the protagonists as they attempt to conceal their true selves are even more intriguing than the question of who killed Cora Davis. (June)