Barb Wire Noos

Adams's sixth mystery is expertly plotted, set with its predecessors in the small town of Corden, S.D., during the 1930s. Rugged ex-convict and amateur investigator Carl Wilcox finds widower Arthur Foote hanging from a barbed-wire noose. Living at his parents' hotel, Wilcox questions several people who arrive there for the murdered man's funeral. Foote's daughter Kitty snubs her rich big-city beau and takes the detective to bed, where, when they're not making love, he learns about Foote family secrets. Kitty's brother Buford (Buff) is also present, AWOL from the Navy and, Wilcox thinks, possibly guilty of killing his father and another guest at the hotel. Buff is lost in a blizzard that further complicates Wilcox's sleuthing, but he finally solves the crimes, which are linked by an old tragedy. The author's sardonic wit alleviates the novel's essential sadness. (May 21)