Immediate Prospect of Being Hanged

Patt Starbuck, detective with the D.A.'s office in tony Woodedge, Mass., works on a murder case that opens unresolved wounds from his past. ``Walker serves up fully developed characters, seedy local politics and an ironic gumshoe--full of acerbic, hilarious comments and devastating one-liners about the suspects--who grows on the reader,'' lauded PW. (Sept.)