The Homicide Report

Sandstrom's (The Violence Beat) second Nell Matthews mystery starts in the basement of the Grantham Gazette and never really picks up steam. This time reporter Nell and her cop-boyfriend-sidekick Mike Svenson investigate when nosy copy editor Martina Gilroy is found near death in the pressroom and muttering frantically about Nell's mysterious, long absent father, Alan. Too many minor characters, awkward writing (""Call me immediately! And I mean right this minute! Pronto! Quick as a bunny!"") and pacing problems (too much time spent over missing rags, which emitted the fumes that clobbered Martina) clot the mystery. But, in fact, it often seems that Sandstrom has another purpose: newspaper making. Sandstrom takes every opportunity to describe, in detail, the functions of the editors, reporters, pressroom operators, and machines that make up the Gazette, bothering little with momentum or character development. Ultimately, the novel succeeds better as a primer on journalism than as a murder mystery. (Sept.)