Lie Down with Dogs

With its (literally) running start and pleasing cast, this debut, winner of the publisher's 1995 Malice Domestic contest for best first mystery, may charm readers into overlooking rough spots in its puzzle. Chicago business executive Robert Cooper is trudging in the northern woods when young Luke McCain charges toward him, saying that his friend Lisa Jacobi dropped him out of her cabin window and told him to run away from the men breaking in. Making her own escape and catching up, Lisa explains that Luke's father, Carl, left the boy in her care six weeks earlier. Cooper invites the pair to stay with him in Chicago. Increasingly pleased with his live-in company, he opposes Lisa's scheme to track down Carl, reminding her that people are still hunting for her. The situation grows grimmer when an old college acquaintance of Carl and Lisa's is found shot in the head. But not to worry: in this accomplished cozy, cleverness triumphs over evil and the baddies are rendered absurd as they bite the dust. (Apr.)