Still Explosion

The protagonist of this suspense novel, Twin Cities Times reporter Laura Malloy, avoids taking a stand on controversial issues in her work, but Logue ( Red Lake of the Heart ) displays no such reticence: this mystery is emphatically pro-choice. Minutes after Laura arrives for an interview at a St. Paul, Minn., family planning clinic, a bomb explodes. The clinic sustains only minor damage, but Bobby Jameson, who brought in his girfriend Christine Larsen for an abortion, is killed. Evidence suggests that Bobby himself might have been the culprit, although the clinic staff would rather blame Lifeline, the anti-abortion group that has been harassing clients. Christine insists that Bobby hadn't opposed her abortion, describing him as ``not opinionated about anything.'' Not so Lifeline leader Tom Chasen, who sees the abortion issue as a war and whose quiet wife Sandy pickets the clinic while wearing a ``fertility bag'' around her neck. As Laura works her way through this carefully constructed mystery, neither she nor the reader can ascertain the balance of personal and political causes behind Bobby's death. Those who are comfortable with Logue's political stand will welcome Laura's debut; those who aren't may find the antics of Laura's pet ferret this book's only entertaining aspect. (May)