SLOW BURN

A second outing for Lincoln Park, Illinois, detectives MacAlister and Jessenovik (Dead Time, 1992) again finds them tired, overworked, and ODing on bad coffee while the bodies pile up- -including two at an abortion clinic that's been torched. An anonymous call ties R.D., a kiddie-porn merchant, in with the little, unclaimed, unidentified smoke-inhalation victim, and Marti and Vik are soon rousting R.D. Meanwhile, the clinic doctor tells them lies about a stolen door key and the receptionist who perished; a teenage junkie hooker comes clean; and a wino snitch offers clues to the comings-and-goings near the clinic. Bleary-eyed Marti and Vik come to understand that a hit-and-run victim and the death of a poor old lady are related to the ``baby doll'' porn scheme, but it'll take even more late nights before Vik goes home to his wife and Marti heads for the woods to make peace with her widowhood on the eve of what would have been her husband's 40th birthday. More polished than this team's debut, with a toned-down relationship between Marti (black) and Vik (white), and with more nuances to Marti's dealing with the black community and her own two grieving children.