Splitting Heirs

Too cute by half, Hanson's latest book about Oregon sculptor and ex-cop Adam McCleet (after Spare Parts, Mortal Remains and Still Life) is flat and forced. The narrating McCleet isn't nearly as funny as he thinks he is. An admitted slacker, McCleet seems to have as little passion for art (""I love sculpting, but it's hard to stay at it when I don't know where the next mortgage payment is coming from"") as he did for his former job on the Portland PD (""In my opinion, my job as a cop was: A. Survival. B. Catching bad guys. C. Following orders. In that order.""). Here, McCleet goes after a share of the $15 million estate left by the dearly departed Graden Porcelli, aka the salmon king. All he has to do to get his money is find out which one of the other six heirs got away with murder sometime in the past. With scarcely a clue (not even the identity of the victim) to go on, McCleet lurches off to grill the suspects: the salmon king's widow, who tauntingly mispronounces McCleet's name in many variations; the dead man's son; his nephew; his niece; his plant manager; and his former partner. The plot is fluffy, the characters insubstantial and the setting irrelevant. Hanson intends McCleet's voice to be funny and winning enough to carry readers along anyway. It's not. (Aug.)