Skylar

Sneaky guile, chronic cuteness and aw-shucks Southern charm meld in this series launch from the creator of the much admired Fletch stories. Skylar Whitfield of Greendowns County, probably in Tennessee, is college-age (but not college-bound), aimless and catnip to the local women. He's also Sheriff Pepp's prime suspect when beauty queen Mary Lou Simes is battered to death. The kills keep a-comin' to the Simes clan, and Skylar can't muster a good alibi, although you have to admire a guy who breaks out of jail to go to church and continue his unstinting commitment to the pleasuring of nubile women. McDonald produces endlessly entertaining dialogue, especially between Skylar and his hidebound Yankee cousin Jonathan, visiting from Boston; ``Jon Than'' hates Skylar's guts, but he's the one who unearths the true renaissance man beneath Skylar's heart-melting smile and doubtful grammar. McDonald saddles the poor sheriff with the meanest wife on God's earth and nearly ruins his story with a late copycat death that won't fool many. This book has already been optioned for film (by Sandollar). (July)