IT'S A MOD, MOD, MOD, MOD MURDER: A Murder A-Go-Go Mystery

Baby boomers will go gaga for this first installment in Martin's Murder A-Go-Go mystery series set in New York City during the 1960s. A transplant from Richmond, Va., Elizabeth "Bebe" Bennett relishes everything about New York, from the Peppermint Lounge to her pink sectional couch, but she especially loves her sophisticated stewardess roommate, Darlene, and her job as secretary to the dreamy Bradley Williams at Rip-City Records. Unfortunately, a man Darlene "became intimately acquainted with" on her most recent flight over from England—Philip Royal, the lead singer in a band Bradley wants to sign for Rip-City—turns up dead in his hotel bathtub, electrocuted by his own guitar. Given her airborne rendezvous with Philip, Darlene is an immediate suspect, and the "fuzz" ban her from flying. To make matters worse, the scandal puts Bradley's job on the line, and Bebe knows that in order to protect those she cares for most, she must solve the murder. Bebe's charming naïveté (she doesn't quite understand why Bradley's last five secretaries had to leave), her gusto for the singles life and her considerable intellect make her an unusually appealing sleuth. Add this to the plethora of '60s details, and the result is a clever mystery that's also a trip back to a time when things were groovier. Agent, Harvey Klinger. (Apr.)