The Getaway Blues

Murray ( When the Fat Man Sings ; The King of the Nightcap ) is an American Dick Francis, with delicious extra gifts. Narrator Lou ``Shifty'' Anderson, a competent, not very successful magician trying to augment his earnings at the Santa Anita racetrack, meets Lucius Bedlington, 79-year-old millionaire playboy horse-owner who's bored and planning suicide. Becoming Bedlington's part-time chauffeur, Shifty falls for Lucius's lawyer's secretary Amber, a didactic do-gooder who's beautiful and passionate. She's brutally murdered, possibly by a serial killer. An ex-wife of Lucius appears, hinting that her 22-year-old daughter, Melinda, may be his. Gorgeous, enthusiastic Melinda revives Lucius's interest in life, but Shifty detects inconsistencies in her history and tracks a tortuous path of betrayal, embezzlement and a hired killer. Shifty's gently wry narration, neat plotting, well-wrought racing background and a colorful cast make this a winner with a bittersweet ending. Even minor characters shine: a director wants a scene ``the way Chekhov felt it, not the way he wrote it.'' (Sept.)