Carolina Gold

Greed is the real killer in this intriguing third mystery (after Snowshot ) of McBriarty's Sheriff Peter McPhee series. Here the young owner of a North Carolina gold-plating shop asks McPhee to investigate the disappearance of her boyfriend/business partner, who vanished soon after the couple discovered a gold mine. McPhee learns that the missing man was secretly stealing a large share of his partner's profits from the mine. Investigating at the mine shaft, he uncovers the young man's corpse and evidence that the murderer plans to return to mine more gold. The sheriff's fears that the killer is a lunatic are realized when the sole witness to the homicide, a Labrador retriever, is killed savagely. Closing in on the guilty party, McPhee watches avarice turn more than one citizen into a killing machine. (Jan.)