Pariah

Aspen, Colo., sheriff Kurt Muller (Hardrock Stiff) becomes personally involved in a murder case in this crisply methodical outing. While attending a charity auction in order to polish his reputation in the face of a recall vote that could yank him from office, the impulsive Kurt is lured away to spend a sensual night with his former lover, reclusive heiress Nicole Bauer. Beautiful and lonely, Nicole is notorious for beating a homicide rap more than 20 years earlier, after legendary rock star Rocky Rhodes plunged to his death from her balcony. But now Nicole tells Kurt that she has been receiving threatening letters from someone she believes to be Rocky. Kurt leaves Nicole's house in the middle of the night; the next morning, she is found dead below her house--just like Rocky was. Kurt, suspecting murder, launches an intense investigation reaching back to the 1970s, when he, like Rocky's gang, eagerly partook of sex, drugs and rock and roll. As more members of the singer's former entourage are murdered, the sheriff probes deeper into their history and discovers surprising connections between them and Aspen's moneyed upper class. Such information is dangerous, and Kurt's reckless, confrontational personality soon imperils his life--and that all-important election. Zigal's twisting plot loops around a cadre of intriguing villains. Against the background of Aspen's natural beauty, he creates a chilling tale, though one leavened with wry humor. (Sept.)