Used to Kill

The second appearance of New York PI Gwenn Ramadge confirms the propitious launch, in A Wreath for the Bride , of veteran mystery writer O'Donnell's newest series (she also writes the two series starring Norah Mulcahaney and Mici Anhalt). Emma Trent, a dance teacher and young widow now married to older executive Douglas Trent, returns home one night to find her husband bludgeoned to death in an apparent burglary. Because her first husband, another older man, also died while she was out of the house, she is a natural suspect. Then Adam McClure, one of Emma's young male students, kills himself after police find the baseball bats he and his friend Paulie Kellen used to commit the murder; Adam leaves a note incriminating Emma, who hires Gwenn to clear her name. Gwenn, who battles police detective Lew Sackler, whom she is dating, and police sergeant Ray Dixon for facts in the case, redoubles her efforts when Paulie is found shot to death. The kind-hearted, tough female PI resolves the tale with a neat twist. (Jan.)