Dirty Weekend

Running away is the theme of Scholefield's colorful depiction of characters linked to the sordid murder of a London TV talk show host. The story's fast pace echoes the heartbeats of the lonely housewife who, afraid of evenings in her own home, flees to the arms of a businessman, himself fleeing from his Hong Kong bosses after failed business dealings. At the same time, a London teenager frantically pounds the London pavement searching for a haven where he can wash the blood of murder off his hands. In this first of a series, Scholefield develops the counterpoint among three clashing London policemen, portraying their working relationships as adeptly as Reginald Hill with his Dalziel and Pascoe team or P. D. James writing of Adam Dalgleish and Kate Miskin. As the interaction of police veteran George Macrae and assistant Leopold Silver mesh with the discordant lives of the housewife, businessman and teenager, Sholefield offers an example of crime writing at its best, in which the author uses a criminal situation to reveal character as well as some searing truths about contemporary life. (Jan.)