The Big Score

In his seventh novel, Kilian ( The Last Virginia Gentleman ) tells a fast-paced story of murder and corruption among Chicago's upper crust. Matthias Curland returns from his dissolute life as a second-rate painter on the Cote d'Azur for his mother's funeral, only to find his once-wealthy German-American family bankrupt and his father's architecture firm about to close its doors. When a painting from a Curland-funded museum is discovered on the family sailboat--wrapped around the corpse of a woman who had been involved with both Matthias and his embittered, alcoholic brother, Christian--Zane Rawlings, police chief of the small town of Grand Pier, Mich., starts an investigation that quickly turns dangerous. Matthias, meanwhile, is hired to design a skyscraper by Trump-like billionaire Peter Poe and quickly falls in love with Poe's wife Diandra, a brainy, coolly elegant former model. Further developments lead back to the dead woman and the stolen painting. Kilian has a great feel for plot; his complicated story moves gracefully to a swift, satisfying conclusion. While some of the characterizations are a little broad, on the whole this is a thoroughly entertaining thriller. (Oct.)