SKINS

The fur industry is pitted against animal-rights activists when top New York model Jennifer O'Grady is clubbed to death by someone who leaves a note with her scalped pubic hair: ``HOW MANY OF THESE WOULD IT TAKE TO MAKE A FUR COAT?'' Rookie detective Karen Levinson, partnered by older, sexist hunk Tony Perrelli, threads her way through a maze of suspects—ranging from fur magnate Michael Nilsson, still carrying a torch for Jennifer, to militant Save Their Skins activist Mary Ellen Fitzsimmons, to mousy heiress/S.T.S. volunteer Leslie Warning, her whiny half-brother Larry, and her unlikely beau Neil Harrigan—none of whom seems to belong in this book. Fans of Warren Adler's wide-eyed Fiona FitzGerald stories will welcome this violent, ingenuous first novel.