ANIMAL INSTINCT

A second outing for Paterson’s preeminent investigators ensnares one of their own members in uncomfortable ways.

It’s not clear who shot Lisa Yates to death in a restaurant parking lot, but it’s clear who deserves leaning on: medical services headhunter Gerald Kline, whom she refused to file charges against for domestic abuse when he was living in her place. So Corey Douglas, who, when he was a Paterson cop, questioned Kline in vain, goes to see him now, blusters at him, and broadcasts hints unwisely around town that Kline deserves killing himself. Someone promptly obliges Corey by slitting Kline’s throat. But it’s not that big a favor since the killer also plants a bloodstained sweat suit of Corey’s along with the murder weapon in a nearby dumpster. Suddenly Corey’s in sore need of the professional services of the K Team, whose members include cop-turned-investigator Laurie Collins, tough and taciturn Marcus Clark, and Corey himself since he retired from the force. Released on bail, Corey’s free to join his K-9 partner, Simon Garfunkel, and his fellow humans in tying both Lisa and Kline to an elaborate and extensive scam involving her employer, Ardmore Medical Systems, and a whole lot of other folks, including two hit men, one of whom incriminates himself in a way that would be conclusive if he hadn’t died immediately afterward. Andy Carpenter, Laurie’s husband, takes time out from his own long-running series to defend Corey, but the real fireworks take place far from the courthouse.

Though the case is a hot mess, the criminals’ sublimely simple central concept is worth all those subsidiary homicides.