Last Dance

""It was a New York Times, bagels-and-lox Sunday afternoon."" It's June 5, 1978, when Marti Hirsch begins recounting her first experience with murder. That's when Doug, a narcotics cop and her lover for four hot-and-heavy months, called with the news that her best friend Jana's fiance, has been shot at close range in their apartment and the police are looking for Jana. Marti's years at Berkeley, her anti-war activism and her job as a manuscript reader are poor preparation for investigating a murder, but concern for Jana and the disinclination of the police to find the real killer get her into her miniskirt and platforms and out the door. With the support of her blind shrink she sets off to find the killer and solve her own problems. There are a few socialite denizens of Studio 54 here, but in fact the seventies setting is a rather superfluous hook. This is a good, solid mystery debut with an unexpected (but not illogical) villain and a truly delightful and feisty heroine who would be good company no matter what the decade. (June)