A Safe Place for Dying

In an impressive debut, Fredrickson introduces Vlodek "Dek" Elstrom, an intrepid investigator of Norwegian extraction who has neared bottom with his failed marriage and battered reputation. When a $3-million home explodes at Crystal Waters, the gated Chicago community where Elstrom's ex-wife still lives and from which he was expelled, powerful Anton "the Bohemian" Chernek, an attorney who fixes problems "too thorny or embarrassing to entrust to ordinary retainers," hires Elstrom as window dressing to cover possible liability. Publicly, the explanation's a gas leak, but an extortion note suggests another cause. But the homeowners' board, fearing a drop in property values, wants the police kept out and the threat to disappear. Another threat and another explosion bring the Feds and the police anyway, and Elstrom finds himself a prime suspect while he tries to trace the roots of the case back to the construction of Crystal Waters. Smartly plotted, briskly paced and laced with humor, this accomplished first marks Fredrickson as a mystery writer to watch. (Nov. 30)