THE MUSIC OF WHAT HAPPENS

Against all reason, Priscilla DeAngelo is convinced there's a conspiracy to keep her six-year-old son away from her. Certainly her well-connected ex, Robert Sullivan, Jr., is just as determined to prevail in a custody battle over Bob III as Priscilla is—and he's a lot less flaky; but a conspiracy between the Sullivan family and Alaska State Senator Wilfred Taylor? Get real. Cecil Younger, the depressive-go-lucky investigator who describes himself as ``not much good at putting clues together,'' probably wouldn't have anything to do with Priscilla if she weren't the sister of his long-lost love Jane Marie DeAngelo. And after his informal first meeting with Robert and Bob leaves him empty-handed, with a wicked concussion, Priscilla doesn't want anything to do with him either. But when her own attempts at diplomacy fail even more spectacularly—her encounter with Taylor in an office stairwell leaves him dead and her under arrest— Cecil steps back into the game. Be warned: From here on in, the action (multiple shaggy kidnappings, leaky dynamite, a reunion with Jane Marie) gets wild and woolly, with no time for a proper lunch, let alone model sleuthing. Notable, like Cecil's first two outings (The Curious Eat Themselves, 1993, etc.), for some charmingly loopy storytelling and some magical Alaskan scenery—though the magic may be due in part to the Xanax that Cecil's been popping since that concussion.