DEERSLAYER

Newspaperman-sleuth Pete Brady (Death Notice, 1990), owner of the Weekly Express in Troy Parish, Louisiana, has been persuaded to go deer-hunting by his good friend Sheriff Matt Garitty. He's on the scene when Matt's young son Scotty shoots at a deer and finds instead the body of Dwayne Elkins, a local car-dealer. Pete and Matt are convinced that Scotty, with all his father's training, would not have made that mistake--and Pete sets out to prove it. Philandering, feckless Elkins had plenty of enemies, although wife Debra and aunt Maud appear grieved. Meanwhile, an old land-feud sparks a red-herring trail to forest-dwelling loner Miller Purdy--until the murder of Elkins's girlfriend and a strange scene at the Elkins hunting camp bring Pete to the true culprit. More than a little draggy, with endless forays into the woods and a downbeat Brady struggling to keep alive his affair with Kelly Larson. Add a plus for lovers of the hunt.