THE TIGHTROPE WALKER

When rich, withdrawn orphan Amelia Jones impulsively buys a Pennsylvania junk shop, she finds a message crammed into an old hurdy-gurdy: "They're going to kill me soon. . . . Why did I sign that paper last night? . . . My name is Hannah. . . ." Quirky gal that she is, Amelia determines to unearth this apparent murder, tracking down previous owners of the hurdy-gurdy—from a dippy courtesan to her slimy Park Avenue protector (who tries to interest Amelia in whips and chains) to a starving N. Y. actor to the actor's wealthy Aunt Hannah (!), who died a suspicious death at age 40 in Carleton, Maine, in 1965. So Amelia heads for Maine and digs around old newspapers and deserted houses, piecing together a tale of murder and obsession that puts the finger on Aunt Hannah's youthful chauffeur, now a slick Senatorial candidate. Will the candidate's mentor kill Amelia? Will Amelia find herself—and/or True Love with the tender graphologist who deflowers her in a black van in Carleton, Maine? Gilman (of Pollifax fame) never finds quite the right tone for all this—it wavers somewhere between cute and pretentious—but Amelia's a disarming narrator, and everything moves along with free-form jauntiness.