One Day a Lemming Will Fly

Edward ""Fitz"" Fitzgerald, the Manchester psychologist who freelances for the police, wields his intellect like a cudgel and wears his vices like badges, dominates the pages of this procedural adapted from a screenplay written by Jimmy McGovern for the popular A&E TV series, Cracker. Although Fitz is back with his wife, Judith, he's still fighting drinking and gambling addictions, still terribly attracted to inspector Jane Penhaligon and still overbearing in his approach to people and problems. The police problem in this case is the assault and murder of a young schoolboy and the suspicion that a gay and closeted schoolteacher is the murderer. Everyone, including Penhaligon and Fitz, is quickly sold on the teacher's guilt. The major concern seems merely the matter of finding evidence or wringing a confession from the suspect. Meanwhile, personal problems for Fitz and the cops on the case color every aspect of the investigation. Fitz's scathing insights spare no one, least of all himself, as the investigation rumbles to a conclusion that feels like the end of an episode rather than the end of a novel. (Jan.)