Goodnight, Sweet Prince

Fans of Bonnie Jean Indermill, the feisty Manhattan tap dancer and permanent temp last seen in The Year of the Monkey , will find this adroitly plotted, well-written mystery the best of the series so far. Signing on as a temporary assistant in the fund-raising department of the Gotham Ballet Company, Bonnie achieves overnight notoriety when visiting artist Nikolai Koslov, ``the Reigning Prince of Ballet,'' defects in her office. Though his decision to join the Gotham group is initially greeted with jubilation, abrasive Nikolai immediately makes enemies. When he is killed in a fall during his debut performance, Bonnie, now a bona fide member of the staff, is not convinced that the murderer is a KGB agent, as the police believe. Among her suspects are a prima ballerina, a rising young male star, a student dancer and her pushy mother and a wealthy patron; the fact that some members of the troupe are snorting cocaine complicates the situation. Traveling with the group to their summer performances in the Berkshires, Bonnie continues her sleuthing in a race to prevent the murderer from striking again. A wry, witty participant in the New York singles scene, Bonnie has become one of detective fiction's most appealing protagonists. (Mar.)