WHERE ECHOES LIVE

Sharon McCone, investigator for San Francisco's All-Souls Legal Co-op (Eye of the Storm, etc., etc.), is trying to find out what's going on around the near-ghost town of Promiseville, once a center of gold mining in California's high desert. A renewed attempt at large-scale mining on land bought by the Japanese-based Transpacific Corporation has come to a complete halt. McCone's ex- colleague, Anne-Marie, heads a conservation group, along with attractive Hy Ripinsky and wimpy Ned Sanderman, that's worried about the real intentions of Transpacific. Then there are the seeming disappearance of old-timer Earl Hopwood, who'd sold his land to the corporation, and the questions of Earl's connection to Mick Erickson, another seller—a connection that surfaces after Erickson's found shot to death. Lots of questions—and none better than McCone at ferreting out answers, despite troubles with lover George, her suddenly liberated mother, and much uneasy self- analysis. Well-done wilderness background, a few mildly intriguing characters, and a terse showdown are the best things in a rambling story that lacks the pithiness and pace of the author's best work.