THE HEIR HUNTER

Peppy, satisfying by-the-numbers series debut about a globetrotting Nick-and-Nora duo (they had a fling in college, but the

fire still smoulders) who locate missing, estranged, or unknown heirs in exchange for a percentage of the bequest. Nick Merchant is in San Francisco, Alexandra Moreno is in New York. They can do all the standard p.i. shtick: bend or break laws; get chased, shot at, beaten up; spend lots of time and money traveling; talk tough to guys in suits; and even discover who’s been naughty or nice—just so piles of money can go to the right folks. We first meet Nick, a typical good-natured, good- looking action-hero-manqu‚, surprising needy, long-lost relatives who can barely remember the deceased, with a $60,000 inheritance. "Kind of like working for the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes," Nick muses. After the papers are signed, Nick and moderately sleazy Doug Spinetti pocket 20 percent, which, Spinetti reminds Nick, might as well be charity work. Nick's father Joe started this line of business, but died under mysterious circumstances. Nick is also wondering how to make ends meet when Alex bribes a New York deputy attorney general to get a peek at a $22 million estate listing belonging to the freshly dead Gerald Jacobs. That much money shakes all kinds of ne’er-do-wells out of the woodwork, starting with the reptilian Lawrence Castleton, founder of Nick's competition, the hugely efficient General Inquiry. The thoroughly ruthless Castleton may also know why Nick's father was killed. Ambitious FBI assistant director Arthur Gordon is miffed that Jacobs was murdered while in the FBI's Witness Protection Program and puts his best agents on the case. Add to this a pair of homicidal hoods looking for incriminating photos that Jacobs hid, along with other assorted plot-thickeners: smuggled Nazi loot, a corrupt congressman, and a courtroom filing deadline after which the money will be taxed into oblivion. A new crease in the conventional p.i. trenchcoat, with plenty of hair-raising escapes, nasty violence, and snarling villains.

(Radio satellite tour)