The Blue Mirage

Finnbar Fraleigh returns (after Fatal Command ) as Silicon City's acting police chief in this interesting, realistic yarn. Fraleigh wants the appointment as permanent top cop, but isn't sure if he will win enough votes from the California city's supervisors. One has a brother, Richard Bartlow, whom a sting operation at the Blue Mirage Bar has tied to an imminent sale of stolen bonds. Another, who is also Fraleigh's lover, has surreptitious dealings with Supervisor Bartlow. Fraleigh travels to New York to interrogate a broker who probably stole the bonds, to find out why his lover has flown there, and to help his brother, a cop named Jack, tone down his drinking. The passages explaining Fraleigh's departure from New York years before and his horrendous relationship with Jack yield McNamara's strongest writing. But despite absorbing details and several vivid players, the denouement is uninspired. (July)