MURDER ON THE HUDSON

A second outing for wise-cracking, self-deprecating newspaperman Ed Fitzgerald of the New York Daily Press (Murder Isn't Enough)--now faintly infatuated with actress Jennifer Ritter. So, when Jennifer's unemployed father Howard is shot to death on a Hudson River cruise boat (he was delivering some wine), Fitzgerald is curious--even though Jennifer plays down the foul-play aromas. And when another murder occurs on Jennifer's doorstep, followed by the arrival of threatening characters and kidnap rumors, it becomes clear that dad Howard was up to his ears in unsavory doings: tenuous leads send Fitzgerald into the world of seedy comedy clubs, where he clears Howard's reputation while figuring out the whodunit and the how-dunit. Sleuth/newsman Fitzgerald remains a vital, charming hero--but he doesn't get much help here from the overpopulated, under-characterized supporting cast. . . or from Flynn's over-elaborate plotting.