Cold Blooded

Last seen in Randisi's The Sixth Phase (1999), NYPD Det. Sgt. Dennis McQueen, a cynical veteran whose passion for detective work exceeds his mastery of departmental politics, gets a new partner who's as much a standard type as himself—Det. Bailey Summers, who labors to survive and advance in a sexist profession while continually fending off those who just want to sleep with her. When a frozen body is discovered off Coney Island by the local polar bears club, the duo connect the murder with insurance fraud and arson in the person of the dead man's sister, a femme fatale with designs on McQueen. After other frozen corpses turn up, it becomes clear a serial killer is on the loose. The serial murderer's thin motivation and the detective pair's identifying him early on undercut both the credibility and the suspense, but those looking for a quick, comfortable read will doubtless find this diverting. Agent, Dominick Abel. (Nov.)