The Winter Widow

Winner of the publisher's second annual Malice Domestic contest for traditional mystery, this first novel bursts with nonstop action and harrowing suspense. San Francisco policewoman Susan Donovan moves to Hampstead, Kans., when she marries the small city's police chief, Dan Wren, only to become a widow within six weeks. Shocked and enraged, Susan gets herself appointed Hampstead's temporary police chief and vows to find Dan's killer. When a reporter, daughter of the area's leading family, is strangled while investigating Dan's death, the mayor responds to local pressure and threatens to fire outsider Susan before more citizens die. She wins a five-day reprieve but must survive various assaults, from humans and animals, before she can solve the cases. Weir skillfully guides readers through a treacherous Midwest winter, the multimillion-dollar bull-sperm business, the covert search for a toxic waste dump and a college town's accumulated secrets--all observed by a city cop who refuses to be charmed by anything far removed from asphalt and neon. (Apr.)