FALSE PROFITS

Bobby Miles, low-tech Springfield, Illinois, p.i. (Suicide Squeeze)—again on assignment for the Speaker of the State House, ``Tree'' Courtney—here takes after one Joseph X. Smith, whose letters in the files of the late congressman Virgil T. Fiske claim that he's in possession of a 19th-century diary that proves Lincoln was involved in the assassination of Mormon leader Joseph Smith. Does the diary exist? Is it legit? Bobby, his bulky, cigar-smoking sidekick Mitch, and Mitch's history-professor friend Rachel are soon surrounded by vengeful Mormons, dead bodies, and thugs making drug drops in ice-cream trucks. They're also almost overwhelmed by lies told by Fiske's former law partner—the ex-husband of the elusive Joseph X. Smith's sister—and a high-tech p.i. who'd been on Fiske's payroll. Eventually, Smith surfaces, as does a plan to cadge big bucks from the Abraham Lincoln Legal Association. But Bobby, Mitch, and Rachel, sorting through musty documents, Mormon history, and certain current business relationships, protect Lincoln's reputation and finger various scoundrels. Lumpen prose but an interesting premise—Lincoln's culpability—and although the Church of the Latter-day Saints has been rendered better (the Moroni Traveller series), this is a step up from Everson's last outing.