cover image SoHo Sins

SoHo Sins

Richard Vine. Hard Case Crime, $22.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-78329-928-7

The contemporary New York art scene provides the backdrop for art magazine editor Vine’s colorful first novel. When art patron Amanda Oliver is found dead in her SoHo loft, her husband, Philip, immediately and continually confesses to her murder, even though he couldn’t have been there 24 hours earlier when she was shot. Philip’s attorney hires PI Hogan to investigate, and Hogan enlists art dealer Jackson Wyeth’s help. In their search for the truth, Hogan and Wyeth travel through the demimonde of assorted deviants, both artistic and sexual, who are the friends and lovers of the Olivers. Revelation slides after revelation, and a child pornography ring is exposed and eliminated, without moving the reader noticeably closer to the killer. Meanwhile, Philip rapidly deteriorates physically and mentally. The authentic background at times entices, and some of the characters are well realized, but the plot is lumpy, the police are curiously absent from the homicide investigation, and the detecting is mostly an offstage afterthought. And yet the vague denouement is strangely satisfying. (July)