Jablonski of L. A.

In this generally entertaining whodunit, retired FBI agent Jack Jablonski must figure out how a small plane with a dead passenger landed on a beach. Visiting L.A. with his wife, Jablonski finds the Cessna during a late-night stroll. An autopsy determines that the beautiful Filipino woman on board died of a cocaine overdose; Jablonski, agreeing to a request for help from the woman's husband, gossip columnist Leo Golden, questions her many paramours. Among them, only Harrison Fulton, the owner of the plane and a big-time network executive, fails to supply an air-tight alibi. Surly flight instructor Juan Sanchez refuses to talk, but he had spent the night of the woman's death in jail. TV writer Lafferty ( The Downing of Flight Six-Heavy ) indulges in ornate dialogue and phrasing--Jablonski's references to ``L'Affaire Cessna,'' for example, seem odd from a former G-man. But a strong ending helps redeem this often trite novel, the first in a projected series. (June)