Canary in the Coal Mine

Manhattan gumshoe Pete Fortunato, the narrator of this underwhelming PI novel from Salzberg (Second Story Man), is barely scraping by. His anger problems cut short a stint as a cop in upstate New York, and he has trouble avoiding confrontations. Then Lila Alston, whose face is “straight out of one of those upscale fashion magazines. More angles on it than a pyramid,” asks him to track down her missing husband, Donald, a wealthy businessman, whom she suspects of having an affair. Alston says she fears the police will view Donald’s disappearance as being the result of foul play and focus on her or her boyfriend, Travis Chapman. Despite a gut feeling that Alston’s not telling him the whole story, Fortunato, tempted by a hefty advance payment, accepts. But when he tries to interview Chapman, he instead finds Donald, dead from a gunshot wound, in Chapman’s apartment and ends up being eyed for that murder by the police. A satisfying ending redeems only in part stock characters and a familiar plot. This offers nothing that hasn’t been done better before. Agent: Claire McKinney, Claire McKinney PR. (Apr.)