Potomac Fever

From the pseudonymous husband and wife team of Diane Henry and Nicholas Horrock (Blood Red, Snow White) comes a seamless collaboration that tingles with suspense, breathing new life into the clich -ridden White House conspiracy plot. Homicide Detective Lt. Cal Terrell wakes up in the hospital unable to speak, but devotedly attended by his ex-wife, Vivian. As he fades in and out of consciousness, Cal relives the attack on his life, which is tied to the murder of Mary Jeanne Turner, the hostess of a posh D.C. restaurant, who was branded on her buttock with a letter ""B"" just before she died. Investigating the case with his voluptuous partner Sgt. Bobbie Short, Terrell soon finds links to D.C.'s black Republican mayor, Martin Cameron; a real estate development called Rivergate; Vivian's current husband, Edward St. Denis, who's a White House aide; and a shoot-out at the Reggae Club, which just happens to be located in a neighborhood slated to be torn down as part of the Rivergate project. When Terrell learns about a party on a boat called Potomac Fever, the White House connection falls into place, but there's nothing tired about the way Horrock lays the trail. The writing here is crisp and clear; the characters are sharply drawn and always believable, and the realistic dialogue has zing and heft. A clear picture of how Washington works--the way power and money and race keep colliding against each other--is visible on every page. This is a stand-out effort: exciting, engrossing and impossible to put down. (May)