The Two-Bit Tango: A Mystery

The plot of this first novel by ex-private eye Pincus seems improbable: two heiresses who are identical twins get embroiled with sleaze elements in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. Yet Pincus pulls it off, largely because her lesbian PI, Nell Fury, is such an engaging sleuth--part Philip Marlowe, part good buddy, and part politically savvy sexual outlaw and jaunty rescuer of well-to-do orphans cruising the California coast. Nell has been hired by one sister, Olive Jones, to find her missing twin, Cate, who, despite her inheritance, has been working at a strip joint called Club Femmes. The search for Cate discovers a nasty brew of murder, arson and insurance fraud. Along the way, Nell takes a slug in the shoulder and tracks a San Francisco pol who may be hiding more than his homosexuality in the closet. The author's staccato style keeps a complex story moving briskly, and sometimes Pincus offers gritty metaphors, as when Nell says of a counterpart: ``Add a mangled nose that curved down his face like a fish hook and a set of hard gunmetal eyes, and you had one intimidating fellow.'' (Aug.)