The Solitary Twist: A Nell Fury Mystery

Readers of Pincus's ( The Two-Bit Tango ) second book could use a score card to keep track of all the characters, but despite the maze of friends and foes lesbian PI Nell Fury does a competent job of solving a complex mystery. Flying home to San Francisco, Nell meets lesbian Christa Lovett, who hires Nell to check the background on Philip Gold, fiance of Christa's ex-lover, Ellen Norway. Christa thinks Philip is after Ellen's money. Within a day, Philip, an arts commissioner, is accused of mismanaging funds, and Ellen is kidnapped. Christa, who is suspiciously shy of the police, asks Nell to find Ellen; consequently, Nell trails Philip to a questionable construction-site meeting; hours later he is killed. Nell is making headway on the case when Christa pays up, terminates the job and vanishes. Chasing down clues and pouncing on coincidences, Nell weaves together surprising events from past and present. While sleuthing, she is fairly good company--much better than she is when, boring as many a suburban mother, she dotes on Pinky, her poetry-writing, Day-Glo-haired daughter. (June)