BLOODWATER

Bloodwater pays blood money"" -- old Oriental saying -- and while this is years of the boar away from Charlie Chan, it is a complicated story of a current murder (that of a gambler-womanizer) linked up with the long-concealed paternity of a child born many years ago in Japan and its retribution, chiefly in emotional dislocation. More of a whodunwhatwhy than we have become used to -- nothing distinguished but a fair level of competence and curiosity sustained.