Palm Beach Nasty

Turner’s entertaining debut introduces Charlie Crawford, a celebrated New York homicide detective who’s traded big-city excitement for the slow pace of the Palm Beach, Fla., police department. When 19-year-old smalltime crook Darryl Bill is found hanged from a banyan tree, Crawford quickly focuses on Ward Jaynes, a billionaire playboy caught in compromising photos with Darryl’s underage sister, Misty. Taunted by Jaynes and warned off by a police chief concerned about alienating a wealthy taxpayer, Crawford and his go-with-the-flow partner, Ott, enlist Misty and crime-scene tech Dominica McCarthy to ensnare the suspect. Crawford, an Ivy League graduate who once dated a famous actress in New York, isn’t always plausible as a hard-bitten homicide detective, and his unfailing ability to anticipate his foes costs the novel some suspense. Still, Turner’s Palm Beach—a blend of desperate criminals, social climbers, merciless billionaires, and surprising heroes—is a pleasant enough place to pass a few hours, and readers will warm to secondary characters like Dominica and the plucky Misty. (Jan.)