A STUDY IN DEATH

Twists in plot wait for the reader around every corner, while the cold rain and wind of a Scottish November penetrate this debut procedural that compares favorably with the work of the popular author of tartan noir, Ian Rankin. When Dr. Roger Harvey, a well-liked and respected history lecturer at Crowby College, is found dead in his home, Det. Chief Inspector Frank Jacobson and Det. Sergeant Ian Kerr and their team have little to go on. As they interview friends, associates and neighbors, they are led from a refuge house for battered women and the environs of Crowby to Amsterdam and the Lake District, and from Harvey's romantic entanglements to major software theft and a New Age cult, before the pieces come together in a surprising conclusion. McDowall expertly manages a complicated plot and has created realistic, albeit troubled characters: Jacobson struggles with feelings of inferiority and battles his vices unlike Rankin's Det. John Rebus, who has resigned himself to his; Kerr's marriage is on the rocks; and the suspects themselves are revealed to lead lives of desperation. No Gothic spires dispel the gloom of the concrete Crowby College, telephone and electrical wires obscure the views of the surrounding mountains, the tea is often cold and the coffee, awful. Dispelling old myths and fantasies, McDowall depicts Scotland as it is in the 21st century and has created a compelling, fast-moving story that leaves the reader wondering where he will go from here. (Dec. 28)