The Murderer Next Door

Rafael Yglesias. Ballantine Books, $5.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-345-36428-9

In a crime story based on an actual case, closet transvestite Ben Fliess murders his wife yet maintains custody of their daughter; narrator Molly Gray, a New York City lawyer and close family friend, ingratiates herself with Ben in order to save the child. ``Smartly paced,'' said PW. ``Yglesias's adroit plot climaxes in a totally unanticipated third-act heartstopper.'' (Oct.)

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