Murder Moves in

Gentrification of urban slum neighborhoods provides both the subject and the conflict in Pyle's second Cesar Franck mystery, as the Cincinnati police detective is called in to investigate the death of Chips Reber, a local entrepreneur and alleged drug dealer. When Reber's body is discovered beneath a huge air conditioner outside one of his rental properties in Dutchtown, Franck assumes death was accidental. But the medical examiner finds stab wounds to the heart, and Franck is not only embarrassed but perplexed. In questioning the neighbors, he finds that hated slumlord Reber was also an abusive husband and indifferent father. With penty of suspects, Franck's only line of investigation is what the neighbors saw, and this process constitutes the main part of this slight but amusing mystery. More a comedy of manners than a whodunit, the strength of this book lies in its believable characterizations of recognizable neighborhood types. Fans of police procedurals may be entertained, but others will find the plot devoid of suspense. Foreign rights: Fox Chase. January 6