A Worm of Doubt

Meek's fourth Lennox Kemp mystery (In Remembrance of Rose, etc.) draws its considerable power as much from psychological sources as from its substantial and complicated plot. Divorce lawyer Kemp doesn't like Frelis Lorimer when she first consults him and he is predictably outraged when she subsequently offers him money to help her get ride of her husband's girl friend. Nevertheless, he is intrigued by her and feels personally betrayed when the girl friend is found drowned in the local motel pool. While Frelis's husband David is suspected of murder, he is not charged; Kemp remains uninvolved until the motel manager is killed, with the evidence pointing to David, and Frelis again begs for help. Agreeing to represent David, Kemp masters his own ambivalences and worries at tag ends of the case, ultimately revealing the complex combination of motivations and opportunities that led to the two deaths, as well as to the harrowing kidnapping of the Lorimer child. Kemp never does resolve his feelings about Frelis but his struggle to understand himself, coinciding with his work on the case, gives Meek's layered story more depth and authenticity than detective fiction usually sustains. (April)