Killed on the Rocks

An engaging set-up collapses under the weight of a busy ending in the latest in DeAndrea's Matt Cobb series ( Killed in Paradise ). Cobb is asked to sit in as a TV station is acquired by corporate raider G. B. Dost at the billionaire's Adirondack estate. An anonymous note to all interested parties had warned of ``insanity, treachery and murder'' in Dost's behavior, and Cobb, ex-MP and now director of ``special projects'' for ``the Network,'' has been brought along just in case. The warnings prove true--the morning after a blizzard that knocks out the phone lines, Dost is found dead, impaled on pointy rocks lining his driveway. Noting the absence of footprints around the body, Cobb interrogates the six houseguests and several family members, beginning with Barry, Dost's unstable son. An eerie message from Dost on a unplugged TV set results in a fatal shooting. After a temporary impasse, the investigation regains steam when Cobb figures out the tricks behind the TV transmission and the footprints. Explaining them takes too much time, draining suspense. (Nov.)