Judging Time

New York City cop April Woo has made sergeant and been transferred to a new precinct since her last appearance (Loving Time, 1996). But she's still an interesting mixture of ambition (in her workplace, even when surrounded by sexist male colleagues) and subservience (to her domineering Chinese mother, who calls her ""worm daughter""). April's relationship with fellow officer Mike Sanchez remains unresolved, although she does think about trading him in for a dishy Chinese-American DA. Readers who bonded with Woo in her previous outings should remain loyal, even though the story Glass spins around her--an East Coast variation on the O.J. Simpson case--isn't particularly original or fascinating. When the wife of Rick Liberty, a former football great who's now an investment banker, is stabbed to death along with a wealthy businessman friend, Liberty is the prime suspect. His alibi is flimsy; but without any solid evidence, Woo and Sanchez decide not to arrest him. When Liberty goes into hiding, the two cops incur the wrath of a sharply sketched bureaucratic police lieutenant who's under pressure from his own superiors. Woo also manages to get on the wrong side of a flamboyant female medical examiner who wears a mink coat to crime scenes. But, despite some lively moments, the plot is secondary to the character of the always interesting Woo. (Feb.)