MINNIE SANTANGELO'S MORTAL SIN

Minnie Santangelo, a plump middle-aged mamma of New York's Little Italy, whose kitchen is hung with strings of garlic and the Sacred Heart, is the newest sleuth in town. By compulsions and hunches -- expressed appassionata -- she outwits a killer who plugs his corpses with cork, sidesteps a local mafioso, and saves her nice son Remo. Well done for a starter and mercifully light on the oregano.