Murder in a Heat Wave

Gretchen Sprague. Minotaur Books, $22.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-312-27662-1

Manhattan co-op residents will particularly enjoy Gretchen Sprague's Murder in a Heat Wave: A Martha Patterson Mystery, the third entry in this intelligent series (after 2000's Maquette for Murder). When someone shoots to death the head of the co-op board in her Greenwich Village apartment building after the air-conditioning system breaks down, it's up to retired lawyer Patterson to find the culprit.

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