Eyewitness to Murder

Although promising an unusual murder mystery, Belfort's third tale (after The Marvell College Murders ) quickly disintegrates into a history lesson/travelogue and confusing suspense. Marvell College professor Caleb Tuttle was the only American in the Eastern European town of Zborodny during the 1942 mass murder of Jews led by a man alleged now to be Father Paul, a priest in America whom the Ukrainians want to extradite and try for war crimes. After entertaining a group of Ukrainians and Father Paul's protege, right-wing columnist Ignatius Healey, Tuttle is poisoned before he can comment on Father Paul's part in the murders. Boston homicide detective Nick Hannibal is given the murder case while his fiancee, Molly Rafferty, once a student of Tuttle's, attends a scholarly conference in Krakow, only a few mies from the incident. Oddly enough, most of the suspects in the killing of Tuttle assemble at the conference site, where Healey is murdered. The tenuous plot and stilted dialogue will discourage even readers interested in Ukrainian politics. (Aug.)