The Skelly Man

Following up his debut in The Heaven Stone, Daniel's shamus Alex Rasmussen treads familiar detective-fiction waters for quite a while before events take a decidedly weird turn and the PI swims neatly toward the conclusion. Ex-cop Rasmussen is based in industrial Lowell, Mass., a town nearly as down-and-out as he is. Divorced, lonely, fond of drink, Alex seems a chronic loser. But he's also dogged and capable of abstract thought, characteristics that serve him well when he's hired by the advance man for late-night TV talk-show host Jerry Corbin. Corbin, a local boy returning to Lowell to tape a show, has been receiving threatening mail. Although he has a bunch of ex-wives and a disparate crew of subordinates, his college days provide a choicer pool of suspects, as Rasmussen unearths a secret society with a grudge and an academic with a wandering wife. A low body count and low-level suspense hamper this work until near the end, when two fast deaths occur and Alex gets a couple of sound beatings, emerging much the wiser on both occasions. (Sept.)