Murder Will Out: An Elizabeth Will Mystery

Yeager's series launch introduces 30-ish Elizabeth Will, a painter who lives on the New Hampshire coast with her irascible, loving lobsterman father Frank. The town of Dovekey Beach is pitched in battle over a proposal to put legalized gambling and prostitution on its offshore islands. Frank's against it; Elizabeth supports the plan of married selectman Al Jenness (a would-be lover) to relieve the municipality's tax problem-until Al's murdered body turns up in one of Frank's lobster traps. Police Chief Ginny Philbrick, Elizabeth's best friend, questions inhabitants on Piscatawk island, site of a marine research project, and Cay's Island, home to a religous sect with an unctuous leader. Elizabeth sleuthes also, aided by her history-minded fisherman and suitor, Jesse Kneeland, and her visiting sister Avis. Their efforts uncover old documents that throw little light on the eventual, somewhat flat, solution of the murder. Yeager (Eviction By Death) offers breezy dialogue, lobstering lore and Down East atmosphere, but tension and menace dissolve in murky plotting and pervasive archness. (Dec.)