DEADLY RICH

Someone is slashing the throats of New York's rich but worthless society figures, and no matter how amusing serial murder might be, it's got to stop. Detective Vincent Cardozo, who appeared in Stewart's Privileged Lives (1988), is in charge of clearing things up. Semidisguised figures along the lines of Liz Smith, Geraldine Ferraro, and Sister Parish are the primary attractions in this cheerfully gory, high-rent Manhattan thriller that begins with the sidewalk-cracking death of the daughter of beautiful alcoholic actress Leigh Baker. Within a couple of years, Jim Delancey, the young man convicted of the murder, is out on parole, and some of Leigh's swell chums who helped seal Delancey's case have died exceptionally grisly deaths. Police Detective Cardozo, a widower, heads the task force assembled to put a stop to the murders. Along the way, many, many loud and obstructive New Yorkers will clog the path to a solution, among them: a rotten Italian-American lady senator; her drug-connected son; a cowboy-booted gossip-columnist; a sexually inventive fashion designer; a British lady magazine editor; Jim Delancey's fanatically protective mother; a crooked cop from Internal Affairs; and countless drones and walkers. Cardozo, sweet on Miss Baker from first sight, leads his troops through the blood, trash, and drugs with patience and persistence. Tension and a perfectly serviceable plot take a back seat to name-dropping, celebrity-guessing, and the fun of seeing the too- rich get theirs.