The Thirteenth Apostle

In her first foray into adult mysteries, YA novelist Gonzalez ( A Deadly Rhyme ) spins out a fast-paced tale of industrial homicide in short snappy chapters. Newspaperwoman and compulsive gambler Geraldine St. Claire teams up with Key West charter-boat skipper Owen Ruder to find out who poisoned the containers of Townehouse coffee that caused several deaths. After Owen's writer friend Hal was killed, perhaps for following the story, Owen asks Geraldine, who was Hal's lover, to help him investigate. Meanwhile, deranged former drug baron Marco Luiz DelCampo pursues his mission to destroy American big business; believing Hal documented his involvement in the tainted coffee deaths, Marco orders his Japanese henchmen to find the dead writer's notes and to get rid of Geraldine and Owen. But Geraldine, realizing that she closely resembles DelCampo's dead wife, concocts a foolhardy plan to get inside his operation. The author has trouble clearly defining exactly what her characters are investigating: Hal's murder ceases to be a major concern about two-thirds of the way through and the resolution drops out of left field. The story barrels along, however, and readers who aren't sticklers for consistency and credibility may find this a pleasant diversion. ( June )