The Sins of the Brother

Introducing Tom McInnes, an Alabama attorney who quits a high-profile Mobile law firm in favor of solo practice, this slick, intelligent debut seeks to bring some Grishamesque thrills to the mystery form. Six months after establishing his modest practice, Tom learns that his ne'er-do-well, drug-dealing younger brother, Hall, has been murdered. Tom goes to his hometown of Cooper's Bend, Ala., where his powerful father, Sam McInnes, is the local lumber-mill tycoon. There, he learns that the sheriff, an African-American war hero named Nixon, is on the take from the elder McInnes--and may be shielding a bookie connected to ""the most dangerous man in Alabama,"" Mike Gerrard, godfather of the statewide underworld. Tom sets out to avenge his brother's murder with the help of a hulking PI of mythic prowess known as Joey. The convoluted trail takes the two men from Alabama to New Orleans and back, as they dodge bullets and hired thugs along the way. Tom's feisty girl Friday, Kelly, is just one of several women he leers at in the novel's all too frequent and rather goofy cheesecake scenes, which are the weak links in an otherwise taut effort. The brooding presence of the Alabama River provides ample obligatory southern gothic ambiance, while the New Orleans and Alabama settings lend pungent atmosphere to a satisfyingly labyrinthine plot. (Oct.)