Chain of Fools

Harry James Denton, a private investigator, has been hired to find a very rich, very troubled, teenage girl. Having runaway from her prominent family, 17-year-old Stacy Jameson has sunk into the sleaze, sex, and sin side of Nashville. These settle over the hero's head like dark netting, slowing and blinding him as he searches the grim bottom of the city. There are many weak links in the novel: too many detailed driving descriptions, dialogue which doesn't work, a few cardboard characters, and a slow start. But readers will be rewarded if they stick with it as the novel gets better with each page. (May)