Seven Kinds of Death

Adroitly meshing the worlds of commerce and art, this complex mystery calls for husband-and-wife investigators Charlie Meiklejohn and Constance Leidl to muster all their maturity, shrewdness and intuition. In a party at her Maryland farmhouse, their old friend Marion (``Tootles'') Olson celebrates the launch of her art tour and the imminent opening of her second husband Max Buell's condominiums, built just a brisk walk from the house. But the evening turns tragic. Tootle's sculptures are vandalized and the strangled body of a guest, highly regarded art magazine editor Victoria Leeds, is discovered in one of Max's condominiums. Charlie and Constance interview several of the partygoers and learn that an earlier death at the condo site, first seen as an accident, is linked to Victoria's murder. John Buell, Tootles's chronically sullen stepson and his partner in the condo construction business, might be implicated. While Wilhelm ( And the Angels Sing ) deftly leads her clever sleuths through an intricate plot, a heavy dose of the occult muddies the waters, and many skimpily developed characters refuse to come to life. (Oct.)