A LOVER SCORNED

Reverend Claire Aldington, assistant rector at Manhattan's prestigious Episcopal St. Anselm's, is stunned when fellow priest Ida Blake is found brutally killed in Central Park. In the days that follow, Ida's mother, in N.Y. for the funeral, is also murdered; Claire receives a string of threatening phone calls; her wealthy banker fiancÉ Brett Cunningham is concealing things from her, including his temporary whereabouts: and Gerry Moser, one of the ex-drag addicts she counsels, is back on the habit. Meanwhile, not much comfort is derived from Claire's boss, the Reverend Douglas Barnet, from his sister Pen, newly arrived from England, or from Police Lieutenant O'Neill, with whom Claire has worked before (Murder at St. Anselm's). But then matters reach a climax with the kidnapping of Claire's son Jamie--and with the murder of yet another female priest. A surfeit of plot lines that never really mesh, despite the author's visible labors, makes for a confusing story, not helped by too much boring small talk and a busy but lifeless heroine.