Death of an Old Flam

It's Christmas time in Clairmont City, but none of the characters is merry, in this latest addition to McClintick's ongoing series featuring police detective George Kelso. Former public defender McClintick skillfully conveys the details of police procedure. Readers learn about the method for fingerprinting a corpse's shriveled fingers and a new technique for bringing out the latent prints on a gun. McClintick is less adept with the emotional range of his characters; they glower and gaze moodily, smirk, leer and sob, are gruff, depressed, and irritated. Meanwhile, Sergeant Kelso and his partner, detective Karl Smith, investigate a murder in which the victim sustained two wounds, from two different guns. Kelso's job is further complicated by the wife of the victim, manipulative Carla, whom he has not seen in the 10 years since she broke off their college romance. The story focuses on Kelso's struggle to handle this conflict of interest objectively as he searches among the numerous false trails and convincing suspects for the true killer. (October)