Murdock Cracks Ice

Veteran Southern California PI Matt Murdock returns to solve a drug-related mystery in Ray's ( Merry Christmas, Murdock ) engaging but uneven new mystery. Having seen graduate chemistry student Rollie Nielsen make big bucks selling a powerful type of speed called ice, readers won't mourn his murder. Murdock, hired by Rollie's father to investigate, wonders if there isn't more to the story than just a low-level drug killing. Are Colombian coke dealers trying to wipe out designer drug competition? After a teenage girl with information is killed in a hail of machine-gun bullets that rip apart Murdock's beachfront house, a Newport Beach detective warns the PI off the investigation. Murdock flies to Seattle, where Rollie went to school, and hooks up with the victim's friends--computer whiz Louis Chen and karate expert/artist Hana St. Cloud. The three are set upon by goons working for wealthy underworld king Big Daddy Borklund, whom they trick into revealing that he, like many others, wants something Rollie had formulated in a secret lab. The ensuing surprises are diminished by the tedious gimmick that determines the resolution. (June)