Cold Shoulder

Admirers of La Plante's Edgar Award- winning TV miniseries, Prime Suspect, and of her earlier crime-thriller fiction (Bella Mafia), will want to give this novel anything but the cold shoulder. After acute alcoholism ruins her career and marriage, former Pasadena, Calif., police lieutenant Lorraine Page winds up as a skid-row prostitute. One day, Lorraine, newly sober, is solicited by a man who then tries to kill her with a hammer; she escapes by biting him on the neck. After she learns that her attacker is probably responsible for a series of hammer murders of back-street hookers, Lorraine determines to bring the serial-killer to justice. As she tracks her quarry, she begins to take strength from her recovery from addiction. Meanwhile, her astute police instincts lead her through L.A.'s netherworld of transsexual prostitution and kiddie porn, propelling her toward the dark secrets of a powerful family. Finely tuned characters, a well-wrought plot and plenty of suspense made this novel a success in England; its appeal should cross the Atlantic with ease. Major ad/promo; film rights sold to Michelle Pfeiffer/20th Century Fox; author tour. (Mar.)