CLOSELY AKIN TO MURDER

A shocking wakeup call for Farberville (Ark.) bookstore owner Claire Malloy (Busy Bodies, 1995, etc., etc.)—from her cousin Ronnie Landonwood, presumed dead for 30 years after she admitted killing Hollywood director Oliver Pickett in Acapulco, and now threatened by a blackmailer who's going to expose her all over again. The call sends Claire and her daughter Caron south of the border, where their benighted guide is attacked, Caron is kidnapped, a key witness is murdered, and nobody knows anything, especially since most of the principals in the Pickett case- -Oliver's daughter Fran, his callow assistant Chad Warmeyer, starlet Debbie D'Avril, and Ronnie's parents—are long since dead or disappeared. Wait till Claire heads back stateside and the missing witnesses start popping up on every street corner. Formidably inventive, though told with a dispiriting air of mild inconsequence, as if, despite the high body count, clearing Ronnie's name were no big deal. Even Hess's trademark guffaws are only smiles this time. (Mystery Guild selection)