Damage Control: A Washington Crime Story

Bowen’s convoluted series kickoff, a political thriller, opens with a bang. As hard-driving D.C. fund-raiser Josie Kendall is leaving the Maryland home of wealthy Jerzy Schroeder, a client with whom she just enjoyed a little extramarital hanky-panky, a sniper shoots Jerzy dead, spattering blood and brain tissue on her DKNY blouse. When the police arrive, Josie says she has no idea who would want to kill Jerzy, though she can think of at least three. Jerzy was set to give a $1 million donation to Josie’s employer, the conservative lobbying firm Majority Values Coalition. The police suspect that the killer may have been Josie’s husband, Rafe, a long-time Washington insider turned literary agent, but that plot line fades away without resolution, as do several others. Still, Bowen (Service Dress Blues) has a good ear for dialogue and clearly knows the hobnobbing ways of D.C. power politics. [em]Agent: Richard C. Levy, Richard C. Levy and Associates. (Aug.) [/em]