Concerto

This short, intriguing thriller from Masters ( Red Ice ) features a protagonist who is not your usual detective hero. Marius Larche, a French Interpol officer, is bisexual, a fact that he muses on with some dismay because of his ambivalent feelings for his new wife (who is aware of his bisexuality). Larche is called to the Spanish island of Molino by a school friend, Eduardo Tomas, whose prominent Spanish family is tied to the Roman Catholic Church and the Franco regime, and who is now a high-ranking government minister receiving daily death threats. Before Larche can reach Molino, however, Eduardo is dead, assassinated in the confessional, as is an old priest who had been a longtime informer for the Tomas family. Larche is joined on the case by Deputy Inspector Alison Rowe, a female British officer who may be able to identify an international terrorist allegedly bound for Molino. Irresistibly drawn to one another, the two become briefly involved. Soon the killer strikes again, and Larche must unravel the deceits and self-serving statements of Tomas family members, Church officials and the controversial manager of a small fishing village located near the Tomas family home and reputed to be a hotbed of sexual perversity. The answers do indeed lie in that village, where the killer meets his fate at the conclusion of this offbeat tale. (Aug.)