Infected Be the Air

Edgar-nominee Law ( The Big Payoff ) turns out a middling mystery that rolls along with some charm but never makes much of an impact. Alice Bertram refuses to buy the official story that her philandering ex-husband Max killed his girlfriend and her son before turning a gun on himself. She dubs it triple murder, but can't get the police to agree. Now raising two kids on a Connecticut farm and flirting with Sam, the local plumber, Alice steals time from raising goats and planting crops to locate the missing chapters of a book Max was commissioned to write, a history of ambitious Senator Salisbury's family. After she and Sam chase down a fleet of trucks illegally dumping medical waste in nearby woods, it comes as no shock that the senator is tied into this crime, and perhaps to Max's death, through favors to mob backers who've kept his campaign coffers filled and the Salisburys afloat for decades. Stock villains--the suave Senator and his slimy political aide; a dishonest lawyer; a growling, tatooed tough guy--fail to spice up standard fare. (Nov.)