Murder for the Prosecution

Lackluster writing and undeveloped characters sabotage this first novel set in the criminal division of the San Francisco attorney general's office. Deputy attorney general Rachel Brandwyn is killed in her office with a gun that had been entered as evidence in the trial of a serial killer. The list of suspects who had access to the gun--all of whom were Rachel's co-workers--is large and varied. As only the young deputy attorneys general Bill Kelly and Beret Holmes, a woman, have alibis for the time of the murder, the police ask them to help investigate. Although Rachel was enough of a troublemaker to provide many with a motive for murder, her co-workers--even the starring sleuths--remain wooden characters. Hoffman's attempts to portray the thoughts and feelings of the murderer are undermined by his tortuous, soon tiresome effort to avoid revealing the perp's gender. Hoffman, himself once a deputy attorney general in San Francisco, knows his setting but his flat style gives his story the tone--and excitement--of a lecture or a legal brief. (Dec.)