DANCING IN THE DARK

Young widow Blaine Stewart, a Manhattan p.i. (The Hour of the Knife), agrees to keep an eye on WARM, the Worldwide Animal Rights Movement, and to inform her client, wealthy Texas meat-packager Jacob Faradeux, if they plan to disrupt the Wall Street ceremony when his stock begins trading; then, suddenly, everyone around her- -her lawyer-sister, her sister's pro bono client, and her neighbor- -are bomb victims. Surprisingly, Blaine's former NYPD mentor, Parker, is warning cops away from Blaine, and her former boyfriend, an FBI agent, seems to be dogging her footsteps. Furthermore, a WARM activist and Faradeux's malcontent son were once radical students together at Columbia, and there are indications that the pro bono bomb victim was a munitions dealer who knew them. A confrontation on the floor of the Exchange leaves one dead and several wounded before Blaine is belatedly made aware that her late husband's death on an FBI drug stakeout was probably caused by a friend, a bribe, and a sellout. Strained, with too much on Blaine's love-life and drinking habits and not enough plot subtlety or sound characterization.