Under Contract: An Anna Lee Investigation

Cody's Head Case, Dupe and other novels have won praise in her native England and in America, as well as an increasing readership, devoted to the series heroine Anna Lee. In her fifth appearance, private detective Lee joins the security force of rock star Shona Una on tour with her entourage, an offensive lot. The singer's costume creator and closest ""friend,'' Lena Pecci, insults Lee when she questions the regimen of uppers and downers fed to the performer. Frustrated because Shona defends Lena, the detective has no allies. The male guards view Lee as a nervous nelly, ridiculing her warnings about dangers stalking Shona. She persists, however, in trying to protect her uncooperative client, until the stark moment when the inevitable happens. The immediacy of rock music's appalling subculture is alleviated by infectious humor and Lee's last word to uppity men. (June 1)