Salmon in the Soup

What do women want? Hard-boiled snoop Jessica ``Jesse'' James can only think of one thing: ``to be their own men.'' James, who made her first appearance in The Daphne Decisions , is an unreliable but talented reporter for the Rochester (N.Y.) Herald and takes pride in speaking bluntly. Whenever she is too busy investigating crimes to do her newspaper work, she makes it a habit to call in well, rather than sick. How well Jesse is remains a question through most of this entertaining crime novel. A recovering alcoholic who lives from paycheck to paycheck, follows the teachings of a guru/shrink and has been romantically involved with a mob boss, Jesse is a heroine for our codependent times. When ex-flame Marcus Andrelli is accused of murdering former city attorney Barbara Sloan while the two were on his yacht allegedly plotting a child pornography scheme, Jesse smells a frame-up and mounts her own investigation. Along the way, she runs into thugs, cops, a rival mob boss and one of her high school dreamboats. Figuring out who did what to whom isn't a sublime undertaking, but watching Jessica struggle to put the pieces of the mystery, and her own complicated life, in order is a distinct pleasure. (Sept.)