Ladies of the Night

Lustful, greedy, ambitious and none too bright, the politicos of Nassau County, N.Y., trip over themselves in this irreverent send-up of machine politics and good but Machiavellian cops. When his deputy disappears during election month (along with the chair of the Republican Women's Caucus), bumbling Nassau County Executive Martin Daly is behind in the polls, out of favor with his machine boss and battling press coverage of his tippler wife and pot-smoking no-show employee son, Junior. Police Commissioner Frank Murphy puts the unflappable homicide duo Maude Fleming (a lesbian with an attitude) and Rocky Blair (a bodybuilder with an attitude) on the case and lets the chips fall where they may. The team digs up enough real estate scams and musical beds to have nervous pols covering their butts and slinging back dirt of their own, but the detectives grind on toward a perfect ending in which Westermann's (The Honor Farm) trademark black humor, sharp ear and eye for setting are all on display. If the portraits of political power brokers border on caricature, the cops and ethnic characters are rock solid and totally engaging. Indeed, Westermann gives readers so much cynical fun that they may almost forget there's a body or two to account for. (Aug.) FYI: Westermann spent almost 20 years as a Long Island policeman.