Bohemian Heart

Arresting San Francisco images and a flashy narrative style launch this mystery debut with a strength that is later weakened by cliches. PI Frank Fagen, a fourth-generation San Franciscan and a former cop, receives an opera ticket and an anonymous invitation to that night's performance of Carmen. Dressed in a leather and satin tux, Frankie rides to the opera house on his vintage Norton bike and meets Colleen Farragut, the drop-dead gorgeous widow--and accused murderer--of real-estate developer William Farragut, one of the principals in Frankie's disgraced departure from the SFPD. Frankie agrees to investigate the case, which is about to go to trial, hoping for a peek at the dead man's diaries and a hefty fee. His sleuthing uncovers an alleged burglary at the Farraguts' Presidio mansion and two missing 14th-century Italian silver plates, some kinky sex involving Farragut with hookers and an affair between Colleen and a city bigshot. Dalessandro's energetic prose and stylish inventions are defeated by the cardboard characterization of Colleen, whose beauty, brilliance and magnetism, while central to the action, are never made credible. (Sept.)