THE TARNISHED EYE

Loosely based on an actual unsolved crime that occurred in Michigan in the late 1960s, this tightly paced, gripping thriller is imbued with substance, sensitivity and depth. County sheriff Hugh DeWitt and his wife are still reeling three years after the SIDS death of their infant son and struggling to sustain a normal life for the sake of their 10-year-old daughter. The emotionally scarred DeWitt, once an overeager lawman, now cherishes the beauty of days "where nothing happens" in his quiet community. Though he knows all of the town's year-round residents by name, no one seems to know any of the affluent families who come to summer in anonymity along the bluffs of Lake Michigan. The Norbois are a classic example: the father a high-energy publishing executive, the mother and four kids a poster family for upper-middle-class values. When a handyman reports seeing something strange, DeWitt goes to investigate and finds they've all been ceremoniously executed and left to rot inside their palatial vacation retreat. Suddenly, DeWitt is on an emotional trail that jerks him back and forth between reflections on the anniversary of his son's death, the horrific murder scene and the serial rape/murders of a handful of University of Michigan coeds. As the point of view shifts from sheriff to victims and back again, Guest (Errands , etc.) keeps the plot moving along apace, creating a finely tuned page-turner. Agent, Patricia Karlan. (June)