Fast Fade

Lori Norris asks private detective Jacob Asch (last seen in Three with a Bullet to prove that director Walter Cairns is really William McVey, the man who deserted her 16 years ago, but the filmmaker's true identity is only the first puzzle in this well-plotted and intricate page-turner. When Asch shows up in Palm Springs, where Cairns is shooting Death in the Desert, he finds the set in turmoil; the situation becomes even more chaotic when Cairns's body is discovered, dressed in women's underwear and covered with obscene lipstick scrawls. As Asch searches for Cairns's killer, he finds that not only was the director generally hated, but that everybody involved in the film benefited from his death. In Lyons's fine mystery, the characters are well defined, the dialogue genuine, the situations believable and the narration first rate. The story moves along at a fast clip with few distractions or tangents, which is just as well, given the plot's many twists and layers. In his ninth adventure, Asch continues to be an engaging narrator. (August)