A couple of major cases face NYPD's Lieutenant Norah Mulcahaney (A Private Crime, etc.) in this outing. One is the botched kidnapping of ten-year-old Todd Millard, taken from the art-filled apartment of his grandmother Wilma Danay, legendary retired actress, who died of a heart attack while fighting off the intruder. After some ransom is collected but the child fails to show up, Norah talks to the divorced parents; to Wilma's longtime companion Yolanda Yates; to her steady bridge partners and others, trying to discover who's behind what increasingly appears to be an inside job. Meanwhile, Norah's deductions help the transit police track down the deranged but clever killer of young women in the subway--his capture the result of a minutely planned, decoy-aided, tension-racked plan. It's Norah's inspiration, too, that finally brings forth the long-missing Todd. A solid procedural with plenty of action, a deglamorized New York backdrop, and a no-nonsense heroine.
