Trail of the Dragon

Not on a par with The Summertime Soldiers or The Gemini Man, Kelly's third story brings back writer Liz Connors and her lover, detective Jack Lingmanne of Cambridge, Mass. As told by Liz, events strain belief and patience from the start, when she promises an anxious friend she will trace his troubled colleague, Bonnie Nordgren. The missing woman becomes a case for Jack when she's found dead of a massive drug injection. Since she suspects murder, Liz keeps investigating unofficially, questioning Bonnie's local associates and phoning her mother in North Carolina. (The attempt to imitate Mrs. Nordgren's Southern accent begs for firm editorial hand.) When someone also kills Bonnie's roommate, Liz entangles herself further in dicey doings until the hyped-up finale where she's defenseless against the unsuspected killer. (March)