A CLEAN SWEEP
by David Berlinski
San Francisco p.i. Aaron Asherfeld is racist, sexist, ageist, homophobic, and indifferent to the fate of the rain forest. He is also, sad to say, very funny indeed as he bulls his way through this debut novel, which begins when councilman Lawrence Williams (``Mad Bad LeRoy'') hires him to collect a $250,000 debt from businessman Roger Ellerbee, only to get killed himself a few hours later. Still out to bill LeRoy's estate for a percentage of the take, Asherfeld goes looking for Ellerbee under some unlovely rocks: two porn theaters, a domination dungeon, and the cocaine-drenched corridors of Ellerbee's Aztec Corporation. Ellerbee's mud-slick intimates, sharks with names like J. Madford Wunderman and Seybold Knesterman, are luridly entertaining, but the real treat here is Asherfeld's drop-dead attitude. You're so sure he'll follow the winding trail all the way to the money that you're almost pleased each time the guy comes up short.