One True Sentence

Set in Paris in 1924, McDonald's fourth mystery featuring crime novelist Hector Lassiter (after 2010's Print the Legend) shows that more is less. When a murderer begins targeting the editors of small literary magazines, using a variety of killing methods, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas tap Lassiter and his fellow mystery writer and budding love interest, Brinke Devlin, to solve the case and forestall further murders. Ernest Hemingway falls under suspicion, and other historical figures like occultist Aleister Crowley and poet William Carlos Williams enter the action, but none comes to convincing life. Even Lassiter gets lost in a meandering and convoluted plot that brings in a suspected satanist, a gratuitous massacre in a brothel, and a ménage à trois. The author telegraphs twists well in advance and resorts to a fortunate last-minute rescue for his hero. Too many murders and too little coherence don't make for a winning combination. Author tour. (Feb.)