A Still and Icy Silence

This dreary and awkward second novel brings back Michigan PI Stuart Mallory, introduced in Close Softly the Doors. Although preparing to shut down his faltering agency, Mallory agrees to take on one last case when the daughter of an old acquaintance asks him to investigate the death of her father, a known arsonist who died when his house burned down. Against the background of a bitter Lansing winter, Mallory pursues an obvious course to more obvious villains, confronting thugs and henchmen in a series of staged and barely believable physical face-offs. Roat draws on standard ingredients of the contemporary detective novel--an independent girlfriend, local cops with whom Mallory has a love-hate relationship, and a sidekick to banter with meaningfully--but little here rings true. Stilted, meandering dialogue and irrelevant subplots further drag at the narrative. (Jan.)