AND ONE TO DIE ON

Haddam (Bleeding Hearts, 1994, etc.) must be running out of holidays: This time her homicidal tendencies are released by a birthday. But what a birthday it is--Tasheba Kent's centenary, designed to kick off an auction of memorabilia from her silent-film career. What actually kicks off, of course, is Tasheba herself, whose inaccessible private island off the Maine coast is awash in dead telephones, recorded screams, telltale cufflinks and feather boas, as well as suspects who wonder whether Tasbeba's longtime companion Cavender Marsh really killed his wife, Lilith Brayne, back in 1938 in order to spend the rest of his life with her sister. Detection honors go to ex-FBI agent Gregor Demarkian, who spends an awful long time working up to the obvious solution. Minor Haddam, this cheerfully brazen homage to Ten Little Indians still has all the sparkle and complexity her fans have come to expect.