SET-UP

Orange County investigator Delilah West (Hit and Run, 1989) returns, better fed, better bedded, but duller. Working undercover in County Supervisor Sam Newley's office, she fingers Sandy Renkowski for stealing the campaign contributions. Only Sandy's friend Bobbi Calder, Newley's nemesis over at Operation Sio-Grow (an anti-development group), thinks that Sandy was framed and that Delilah's a jerk. Still: Will Delilah find out who's been sending her letter bombs anyway? While Delilah's busy sorting through the planning commission machinations, the environmental issues, and through Bobbi's activist Mends from the Sixties/Seventies (included Newley), Sandy is murdered. For politics or passion? Much silly analyzing later, a 20-tear resentment surfaces and the sobbing killer confesses. With her sass subdued, Delilah turns lumpen. Two-dimensional characters, plus predictable plotting, don't help much either.