Good Girl, Bad Girl

In Finch’s fun first mystery, set in 1968 New York City, PI Alex Novalis can thank his background as an art-fraud investigator for his introduction to entrepreneur Gabriel Kravitz. Kravitz, who’s made a fortune in the construction business, wants Novalis to find his missing 18-year-old daughter, Lydia, a freshman at a Vermont college. According to Lydia’s best friend, Andrea Marshall, the missing girl has been having an affair with painter Jerry Pedrosian, a 43-year-old lothario whose “happenings” get more attention than his art. Andrea turns out to be both seductive and secretive; Pedrosian proves elusive; and Lydia appears and disappears in tantalizing glimpses against a background of fairly innocent drug taking, civil rights struggles, and the teeming, steaming art scene of the day. Finch (Rainbow, a biography of Judy Garland) has created in Novalis a nice blend of old-school detective and softie, who makes the journey worthwhile, even if the overly complicated ending fizzles. (Aug.)