KILLER'S RIGHTS

When Roy Morgan, handsome psychopathic small-time hood and child rapist, is found stabbed to death, L.A.P.D.'s Isamu Ohara at first ties the killing to local mobsters fighting over territory. But, as the story gains slightly in momentum, Ohara focuses on two clues that point in a different direction: a pink oleander blossom found on Morgan's body; and a broken doll from his apartment. The doll, it turns out, was made by beautiful young deaf mute Yumi Kubota. Was Yumi about to become Morgan's next rape victim? And if so, did Yumi kill Morgan--or was it her hard-working mother, her boyfriend Kenji, or one of the protective neighborhood toughs? Ohara patiently unravels the puzzle, with more tragedy surfacing. But this police-procedural is unfocused, mildly interesting only when dealing with the Japanese characters and mores--and not in the same league with E. V. Cunningham's Japanese-cop series.