cover image Final Thesis: A Nick Toland Mystery

Final Thesis: A Nick Toland Mystery

William L. Story. St. Martin's Press, $16.95 (280pp) ISBN 978-0-312-02576-2

College professor and part-time Army Reserve investigator Nick Toland finds himself drawn into a murder case when he is asked to find a student who has disappeared while researching a ring of Boston-area prostitutes who are paid to bear babies for illegal adoptions. Having turned down Darlene Abbott's request to find her friend, Toland is guilt-stricken when Darlene herself is murdered in Boston's Combat Zone. Though his own life is soon threatened, he pursues his dogged sleuthing, joining forces with his sergeant, a millionaire BMW dealer. When they discover the gynecologist who seems to be organizing the operation, Toland's lover, Dr. Moira O'Shaughnessy, offers herself as bait, pretending to be a hooker who wants to make some money a different way. The operation escalates, with Toland finding himself a prime murder suspect, but eventually he tracks down the panderers and the murderers, discovering in the process that academia is not immune to influences from Boston's underworld. Story ( Cemeteries Are for Dying ) weaves a taut and often engaging tale, but at times he overdoes the angst of the divorced male. ( Apr))