Death by Design

Irish journalist Banville's quick wit moves this mystery along at breakneck speed. Detective John Blaine is assigned by Mrs. Joseph Walsh-Overman, a wealthy department-store heiress, to find her rebellious son Redmond, who married someone not of his station and has gone missing for years. In the course of his investigation, Blaine meets her other son, Charles (who is ``a little like a two minute egg . . . all soft and jiggly''), and her faithful servant, Saunders, both of whom offer Blaine money to fake the search and claim that Redmond could not be found. Intrigued, Blaine plows forward. The story is standard mystery fare, but Blaine's voice is an original--and occasionally vulgar--one; he takes the classic American detective way with metaphors and retorts to a new level. Because Redmond has a predilection for dressing as a vagrant, Blaine enlists the aid of his estranged wife, Annie, a social worker, in tracking him down. She too is clever, and her scenes with Blaine have the feel of a well-paced Ping-Pong match. Blaine's attachment to her and his frustration over their inability to reconcile add another dimension to the expected mystery-story elements. (Dec.)