Headlines

In Chicago of 1949, newspaper magnate Howard Croft Tate faces a sticky decision: Does he blow the whistle on a mobster whose empire is built on slum housing, or does he knuckle under to blackmail? From the day his headstrong heir Morgana leaves her glittering, 21st birthday bash to save a child from a burning tenement, she crusades to destroy the man her father rightfully fears. To this pot, Masterton (Maiden Voyage adds a headline-grabbing ""Hacker,'' who kills and dismembers women, a sister who steals Morgana's fiance for herself, a mother distraught over the loss of her lover and the usual social whirl of the wealthy. With the exception of a snappy Polish reporter and his photographer sidekick, most of these characters fail to charm or even to sound believable, despite the catchy lingo they spout. Toward the end, the pace becomes frenetic and a few bittersweet twists force Morgana to choose between impulse and responsibility. (August 18)