Late Payments

Lt. Leroy Powder, head of Indianapolis P.D.'s Missing Person Bureau, is asked by a frightened 12-year-old boy to find his father. Powder (""the cop who sent his son to jail'') is also looking for his ex-con son, Ricky, who has violated his parole. Among the other characters in this excellent procedural are a manic, crippled computer whiz who's unearthed ``data'' that hundreds of disabled Indianans are being murdered each year; an old flame of Powder's with a shady past; a ganglord wearing so much jewelry that the ``knack was walking without clanking;'' various quirky members of the Indianapolis P.D. (including Powder's wheelchair-bound lover Carollee), the FBI and the public. With a complexity worthy of Ross Macdonaldand the same concern for family and secret relationshipsLewin (The Way We Die Now has crafted a first-rate book combining grit, humor and tough-minded caring. One hopes for more mysteries featuring sarcastic, abrasive, all too human and ultimately endearing Leroy Powder. (May 28)