BACKHAND

Another rambling adventure for London's p.i. Anna Lee (Under Contract, 1987, etc.), who works, with much dissatisfaction, for Brierly Security. Here, crisp, take-charge clothing retailer Lara Crowther has hired her to find Cynthia, wayward teenage daughter of Penny Garden, Lara's foremost knitwear designer. Penny's own store has gone bankrupt—though the stock (supposedly in the hands of a liquidator) keeps turning up mysteriously here and there—and her husband-manager has decamped. Meanwhile, the appearance on the scene of entrepreneur Hugh Fellows—a bounder if ever there was one—takes Anna to a plush condo in the Florida Keys, where she encounters a gangster-style murder, catches up with her quarry, and realizes that Lara is playing a game of her own. Nobody's game plan is too clear in the beclouded plotting here, including our heroine's. She's left agonizing over lover Quex, the job with Brierly, and a possible move to the US. An expansive set of intriguing characters and some sharp dialogue help—but can't save—a story out of focus.