PRIME CANDIDATE

Jock Caprisi, who's recently climbed out of the gutter of tabloid journalism to advise venerable New York Senator Morton Beaufoy on his reelection campaign, expects dirty tricks from Beaufoy's sleazy opponent, Congressman Herbert Turnbull, and his unprincipled campaign manager, Poppy Hancock. But murder is going too far, Jock thinks when he finds Beaufoy's realtor, Sheri Bannerman, parked outside his apartment, in his own Buick, with a fatal stab wound. When Poppy gleefully threatens to use the case full-throttle against the Senator in the week before the primary, Jock goes into overdrive, looking for somebody, anybody (Sheri's politely subdued widower? her smooth-talking boss? the local drug retailer, just back on the streets? the client whose last phone call to Sheri began, ``Hi, Honeybuns''?), to deflect suspicion from his client. Thanks to Jock's sharp eye for Sheri's missing presentation case, and the stab wound that punctured her chest without leaving a mark on her dress, he not only solves the murder but also—quite another matter—leaves Turnbull and his bulldog manager, a woman with ``more brass than Big Ben,'' in the dust. Cotler (Shooting Script, 1992, etc.) delivers both a savory satire of familiar New York politicos and as neatly turned a whodunit as you'll find this season, with every detail perfectly judged to lead up to the last hurrah.