Long Cold Fall

This impressive mystery debut grabs attention with its opening chapter and never lets up. With both a penchant for trouble and the ability to handle it, Vietnam vet Cooper MacLeish, after completing college on the GI Bill, is drifting through life as a Chicago cab driver. Reading of the apparent suicide of a woman he'd been in love with during his college years, he decides to attend her funeral. Although she hadn't returned his feelings, the two had shared one night of passion. A simple calculation suggests that Cooper might be the father of her teenage son. The youth has disappeared following his mother's death but Cooper finds him, and his argument that his mother was murdered gains added weight when someone seems determined to kill him as well. Cooper eventually pinpoints a surprising suspect (based on coincidental events that constitute the novel's sole jarring note) but, before the story's violent resolution, learns that not all guesses turn out right. Reaves's solid, well-paced mystery features an engaging hero readers will want to meet again. (Jan.)