cover image Dead Reckoning

Dead Reckoning

Susan LaTour. Minotaur Books, $21.95 (352pp) ISBN 978-0-312-13958-2

The LaTours' carefully calculated cat-and-mouse debut examines the frightening consequences of potentially lethal research. When chemistry professor Catherine Lakey vanishes without a trace from her seaside Massachusetts home, her niece, Nancy Mulholland, refuses to believe she has committed suicide, which is what the police suspect. In fact, Nancy finds little clues around her aunt's cottage that indicate that the woman has left of her own volition. As Nancy contacts Catherine's friends, she learns that one has just been killed in an apparent mugging. With the initially reluctant aid of Catherine's colleague, Frank Simco, Nancy follows her aunt's trail of clues, knocking down one stumbling block after another until she uncovers the secret of the chemistry professor's research and the subversive group that is capitalizing on it. With that group also searching for Catherine and maybe Nancy, there are plenty of heartstopping moments. The story is fractured by place, time and point of view, but the LaTours skillfully assemble the pieces into a taut conspiracy tale. (Jan.)