COLOR OF JUSTICE

A provocative examination of race fires up this otherwise lukewarm crime drama. Set in Detroit, the book opens with the torture murder of a wealthy black couple, John and Lenora Baker, pillars of the city's African-American society. The case falls to homicide detective Danny Cavanaugh, a white cop raised as the only Caucasian kid in a black neighborhood. Cavanaugh possesses a deep understanding of black culture that gives him an instinctual edge in sorting through the suspects, all of whom invested in a cash-eating Internet company that went belly up. The case, however, shifts suddenly when another member of Detroit's black power circle is killed in the same way as the Bakers. It dawns on Cavanaugh that all the victims have been light-skinned blacks, those who often find the most favor with the white population—and sometimes elicit the most scorn from blacks with darker complexions. Cavanaugh finds himself not only plowing into a politically sensitive case but one that leads down a prickly racial path. Hardwick's fourth Detroit-based thriller satisfyingly recycles some cast members from previous books (Supreme Justice; Double Dead) and features compelling scenes of racial conflict and personal strife, but the narrative moves haltingly. In the end, things only fall into place upon the clunky merging of two subplots and a few wide-eyed coincidences. Cavanaugh could be a fine protagonist once Hardwick adjusts some of the more abrasive aspects of his character, but he deserves a tighter, smoother-flowing plot as vehicle. 4-city author tour.(Jan.)