Chosen for Death

Because her main characters-Boston-based educational consultant Thea Kozak and Detective Andre Lemieux of the Maine State Police-are engaging, the flaws in Flora's debut are more irritating than fatal. Easy jokes affect even the naming of the victim, who is Thea's adopted ``sister Carrie.'' Worse, Thea's melodramatic motivation is hammered into readers with repeated variations of the theme, ``I can't let someone kill my sister and get away with it.'' Although the sisters have recently drifted apart, especially since Carrie moved to Maine, Thea believes the murder relates to Carrie's search for her birth mother. From the condition of Carrie's bludgeoned corpse, Andre believes that it is a straightforward sex crime. When Thea finds evidence in Carrie's apartment linked to her sister's search, she decides to duplicate the potentially fatal hunt herself, rather than turn the clues over to Andre-even though their relationship has progressed from scrapping to ``a tingle'' when they touch. Flora's characterization is assured and her plotting is tight and credible. (Dec.)