One Kiss Led to Another

This risk-taking, not always lucid debut features a relentlessly hard-boiled Atlantic City shamus named Cornelius Leeds who lives on the oceanfront, owns a boat and is proud of his abrasive nature, which he frequently exhibits. At the request of wealthy Ben Arnold, Con goes looking among the local hookers and pimps for Arnold's runaway granddaughter Bonnie. She's a walking disaster: at 17, a veteran of recovery groups for drug and alcohol abusers and incest survivors, she's recently been seen palling around with biker types. Con finds her and returns her to the bosom of her family, but within days she's discovered in a Brooklyn park, dead of a drug overdose, and the PI, hooked by inconsistencies in her death, can't let go of the case. The plot, though moved forward by clipped, brutal dialogue, occasionally stumbles on the edge of a gap and falls into incoherence. A few sex scenes, most of which revolve around Julie, Bonnie's pal from the incest support group, combine with revelations by shamed family members and biker deaths to lead Con to the protracted (50-plus pages) solution. Sorting out the drug deals, the incest and the interlocking cover-ups is a big job. Con proves himself up to it, though readers might nod off during parts of the process. (May.)