Baroni

At the start of this unusually warmhearted police procedural first published in 1975 from Harris (1928–1998), two neighbors from the apartment building across the street happen to see middle-aged housewife Evelyn Hawley take a fatal fall from her kitchen window to the pavement five stories below. Shortly before, one of the witnesses, who often saw Evelyn haranguing her henpecked husband, Edward, noticed him yell back at her for a change. Bumbling LAPD Det. Lou Baroni, an old school cop on the verge of retirement, suspects Edward pushed Evelyn, but his ambitious young partner, Sgt. Steve Perry, and scheming boss, Lt. Harold Tate, want Lou to spend his last days on the force investigating a murder that could lead to a high-profile arrest. Pursuing the Hawley case on his own, Lou comes around to believing that the shy, mild-mannered Edward couldn’t be a killer. Actor Laurie Knight, who aids Lou in his quest to prove Edward’s innocence, ends up guiding Lou to redemption. Smooth dialogue helps propel the twisted action to a satisfying close. Readers will want to check out Harris’s only other novel, The Joseph File. (July)