Killer Riff: A Molly Forrester Novel

Glamorous to outsiders, the high-powered music business can exact a fatally high price for fame, as Molly Forrester discovers when she turns investigative reporter in Anderson’s entertaining fourth mystery (after 2006’s Killer Deal) to feature the popular advice columnist for Zeitgeist, a fashionable Manhattan magazine. Molly seizes the chance to profile music industry giant Russell Elliott, who’s recently died of what’s been ruled an accidental drug overdose. As Molly begins to interview Elliott’s complex family, which includes an assortment of ex-wives, and learns of the legal and personal tangles of the tortured genius, she suspects his demise was no accident. Meanwhile, she struggles to keep her job and to rekindle her romance with handsome NYPD homicide detective Kyle Edwards. Anderson’s breezy style—a mix of wit and trendy references—at times borders on the silly, but chick lit fans, not to mention Sex in the City buffs, will find much to like. (Dec.)