Hit on the House

Back on the streets in top form is Detroit's soiled, yet sensitive Sgt. ``Fang'' Mulheisen, whose last appearance was in the praised Grootka . Having rubbed out mobster Sid Sedlacek and his driver, hit man Hal Good is picked up as a possible witness and taken to jail while Mulheisen oversees the crime scene. A quick ID switch with a drunk in a nearby cell lands Hal back on the streets, in possession of a large chunk of money taken from Sid (who'd taken it from his boss, hence the contract), and pursued by both Mulheisen and another gun-for-hire. Meanwhile, Mulheisen meets up with a woman from his past and falls for her all over again, even though her husband has a few too many links with the latest profusion of homicides. With dialogue that's droll and dark, a series figure who's one short step from terminal burnout and a seamy urban setting illuminated by kinetic, violent, often brutally funny scenes, Jackson expertly taps the vein that Elmore Leonard, another Motown scribe, is noted for. Atlantic will be issuing mass market editions of The Diehard , The Blind Pig and Grootka in spring 1993. (Jan.)