Unlucky Money

When Susan Fontaine, the wife of wealthy developer Whitaker Fontaine, is found shot to death in the bedroom of their house in an upscale neighborhood of Norfolk, Va., the evidence points to Whit as the killer (he was lying drunk on the floor next to the body with his hand near his pistol), in this sluggish series launch from Lockhart (Smith). Whit’s legal defense team hires Reliable Investigations to see what they can uncover, and Reliable’s boss assigns PI Wendy Lu to run point on the case. Ex-Navy, ex-cop, and still somewhat new to the detective game, Wendy dutifully tracks down friends and business associates while worrying about her relationship with her parents and the earlier death of her cop partner and married lover. After a long series of monotonous interviews and a lot of repetition of the facts of the case, things finally pick up when Whit’s involvement with Japanese organized crime comes to light. Labored dialogue and an unconvincing action scene finale don’t help. Lockhart has done better. (Feb.)