Judgement of Death

Wisecracking journalist Joseph Radkin takes over a story for a deceased colleague in this complicated, London-based mystery by the author of Letters to Nanette. At first it appears that Mike Rose, who had been investigating the conviction of Lavinia Chancellor for poisoning her husband, Stephen Fry, was the victim of a hit-and-run accident. But Radkin, who teams up with Irish reporter Kate O'Malley, doesn't believe it. He has three deaths to unravel: Rose's, Fry's and--because the assignment is part of a magazine series comparing modern murders to notorious killings of the past--the case of Florence Maybrick, convicted 100 years earlier of poisoning her wealthy husband. Agreeing to help Radkin and O'Malley in their inquiries is Chancellor's ex-cop father, Ron, who is oddly close-mouthed about his own efforts to free his daughter. In the meantime, Radkin interviews Fry's mother, who is even more suspiciously reticent, and resumes his research into the turn-of-the-century murder. While some of the ensuing events ring true, the denouement fails to answer all the questions raised by this extremely convoluted yarn. The frustrating lack of resolution, combined with Radkin's grating wit, makes the effort required to follow the plot a questionable investment. (June)