DEATH PENALTIES

More sluggish than most Gosling outings, this venture begins with the hit-and-run death of Roger Leland, which still causes his son Max nightmares. Was it a mere accident—or more? When retired cop and sole witness Ivor Parks dies mysteriously, Sergeant Tim Nightingale, on his own time, begins niggling away—and discovers that: Mrs. Leland has been receiving a series of threatening calls asking her to return ``it''; an intruder's been by; and her redecorating of Dolly McMurdo's mansion has been stymied by the counter-orders issued by Dolly's nephew, Archie (whom, it later turns out, Dolly has never heard of). Chief Inspector Luke Abbott, now on full alert, joins forces with Nightingale and, with keen interrogation techniques, uncovers the dead man's problem—he was an unwilling drug courier who ultimately absconded with the profits. But the real baddies aren't brought to justice until Nightingale's ribs take a pummeling, Max is kidnapped, and the McMurdo mansion is turned topsy-turvy. Earnest, with a serviceable plot, but the Abbott/Nightingale detecting team is so low-key as to be tedious, and Gosling's fervid imagination seems to be napping this time out.