cover image The Steel Web

The Steel Web

Ronald Tierney. St. Martin's Press, $17.95 (179pp) ISBN 978-0-312-06473-0

In this new Deet Shanahan mystery, the gruff and lonely private investigator (who still lives with the furniture his ex-wife left behind 35 years before) is caught up in a case involving two 16-year-old boys arrested for the murder of an undercover cop. They had been on the scene and stole money from the dead man, but Shanahan and his much-younger girlfriend (whom he met in a massage parlor) don't believe the boys killed him. Time is short, because an ambitious, soon-to-be-up-for-reelection prosecutor wants the boys quickly convicted, to prove that Indianapolis, Ind., isn't New York or L.A. Before Shanahan discovers the murderer, he meets and matches wits with a wide assortment of characters: one of the richest and most powerful men in town, a young cub reporter, the owner of a strip joint with Mafia connections and his bimbo wife. With a smooth narrative style, vivid local color and sharply drawn characters, Tierney ( The Stone Veil ) offers a realistic portrait of an aging man and some satisfying sleuthing. (Nov.)