Bowker's Bonfire

Caxton (Murder in a Quiet Place) sets Detective Inspector Dennis Bowker, his own version of Dirty Harry, loose on the sleepy town of Bedlow-on-Thames-and it's not a pretty sight. The huge, ornery Bowker is sent in to find the murderers of Ronnie Matthews and his family, who died three months earlier when their neighborhood store was torched. Bowker, as Caxton reminds us too often, has a menacing presence, which he uses to heat up the cold trail, threatening suspects on the local police list (""Don't tell me I can't violate your civil rights; you don't know what I can do. But you're bloody well going to find out""). The payoff comes when a suspect is killed and Bowker gets fresh evidence. Meanwhile, his partner, Detective Sergeant Jack Knight, follows the trail of a woman who disappeared the night of the fire, and some local police helpers do the assigned watching that will help the unconventional inspector blast open drug and pornography rings on his way to solving the murders. Caxton is as heavy-handed a writer as Bowker is a cop, which means that readers are in for a grim, humorless drubbing. (Feb.)