A CAPITOL CRIME

This does full and handsome justice to both nouns in the title, being Tony Jordan's follow-up to the sudden death of his friend Les Painter, a Washington Journal investigative reporter, as written by real life Washington Post reporter, Meyer. Painter, author of a column called ""Inside Track,"" had pursued it to high places among presidential hopefuls, including one Senator Seld who lost the last time. (Even his family wouldn't vote for him.) And then there's Dunphy, a lobbyist for the oil companies--after all, Arab oil is hot oil anyway you look at it. On the side, there's just a suggestion of a fine romance with the attractive Charlotte, a Senator who inherited the seat at her husband's death. This is Meyer's first novel and he has all the right apparatus--inside know-how, humor, and timing. Spare it your change.