Unwanted Attentions

Beautiful professor Rebecca Kendall has been stalked for 15 years by Benjamin Knapp, a man suffering from an ``obsessive love'' syndrome called erotomania. Rebecca is resigned to his periodic reappearances in her life, keeping him away through injunctions and unlisted phone numbers. But then he threatens her new fiance, and she hires private investigator Michael Caruso to find Benjamin in order to obtain a restraining order. Irrationally, Rebecca dislikes Caruso on sight and refuses to satisfy his curiosity about why she is looking for Benjamin, declaring, ``I wish I could kill him. Any jury in the world would understand.'' When Caruso arrives at Knapp's house, there is blood everywhere but no sign of a body. The police find bloodthe same blood-type as the missing man'sin Rebecca's car, and on Caruso's testimony, she is arrested and tried for muder. This novel's intriguing premise, unfortunately, is not followed through. Beck focuses mainly on the dry proceedings of the trial, leaving the actions and emotions of the characters to be told at second- and third-hand. Weak characterization and implausible motivation further debilitate this mystery. (Dec.)