cover image Blood Tracks

Blood Tracks

Karen Rose Cercone. Berkley Prime Crime, $5.99 (242pp) ISBN 978-0-425-16241-5

As L.A. Graf, Cercone (with co-author Julia Ecklar) was best known for her Star Trek novels and other sci-fi. That is until Steel Ashes, her first mystery. There Cercone introduced Armenian homicide detective, Milo Kachigan; investigative reporter and socialist reformer, Helen Sorby; and the dangerous environment of turn of the century Pittsburgh. All three are back again when Pittsburgh's emerging electrical industry becomes the backdrop for corrupt cops, spying industrial bombings and murder. Milo, who's been forced to gather payoffs from brothels and gambling halls, gets a chance to investigate a real homicide when the mutilated body of an engineer working for enlightened capitalist George Westinghouse shows up in Helen's backyard. Cercone fills her book with real events and people (anarchist legend Emma Goldman even makes an appearance) set against a convincingly dark and complex background. If the mystery itself occasionally seems contrived, the riveting details more than compensate. (Mar.)