TRAIL OF MURDER

Beneath the forgettable title and the unlikely premise—D.C. poet/professor Lee Squires signs on as trail cook (!) for wealthy Cyrus Strand's private party as they explore the remote Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana—lurks a surprisingly accomplished first novel. Lee's narration is nervously intelligent; the suspects—Cyrus's latest wife, Lucia; his son Gene, daughter Adrienne, and adopted son Henry; Adrienne's husband Billy Caton; Nathaniel Rosenfeld, the family lawyer; and Cory Johnson, a guide with an attitude—are deftly sketched in; and the air of gathering storm-clouds expertly evoked, with a few rueful nods to Andreae's Had-I-But-Known forebears. Only the detection itself is below par; maybe that's why Andreae seems uncertain whether we've seen the last of Lee. Let's hope not.