CHELSEY AND THE GREEN-HAIRED KID

This first novel is distinguished by a tightly woven, if not always credible, mystery and an unusually resourceful heroine. Chelsey, 13, and confined to a wheelchair as a result of an accident, witnesses a murder at a basketball game as she sees someone pushed off the bleachers--and who pushed him. After initial, unbelieving, police questioning, she meets a boy with dyed green hair who salutes her spunk, identifies himself as Jack Smith and insists that, though he was standing nearby, he didn't see a thing. When he persists in being friendly--and in warning her away--Chelsey decides to find out exactly what happened and accepts his help, despite his bad reputation at school. The denouement involves a cocaine ring and a hair-raising ride in a wheelchair during which Chelsey rescues them both. The basic mystery is melodramatic and a bit unbelievable, but Gorman lines her clues up well; that, combined with a breezy, spunky style for her heroine, makes this an enjoyable, unusual suspenser.