A Fine and Private Place: A Gil Disbro Mystery

This compact narrative, niftily constructed scam-by-scam, is illuminated by the succinct charm of Cleveland PI Gil Disbro, who last shone in And Then You Die . An elderly judge is being blackmailed for allowing his no-good nephew to bury his girlfriend, dead of an overdose, on the grounds of his home nine months earlier. The judge is wealthy and can afford to pay, but when another blackmailer issues demands, the judge calls on Gil. The dead girl shows up alive and kicking (literally: she teaches an aerobics class), and the first blackmailer is unveiled. One scam links the nephew to a mob family; another connects the mob to a fixed boxing match; the fixers are linked to a con man, who has ties to the dead girl who isn't. At about half a dozen moments along the way, Gil has everything figured out, but then revisions are required. In a case ripe with an assortment of svelte and dangerous women, Gil's best girl, Helen, wishes his contacts were uglier. Although a few oddball minor characters, like the mobster's psychotic mother, get short-changed in the abrupt plot shifts, this tight-as-a-drum caper leaves a clear, sharp impression. (Aug.)