ANGLE OF ATTACK

Denver's Gabe Wager (The Alvarez Journal, Speak for the Dead) is heavy into organized crime this time around, drawn that way by a whopping ""coincidence."" Gabe is told by a boozy, old father-figure of the Latino community that someone named Frank Covino is connected to the unsolved murder of mobster Marco Scorvelli; and Gabe's very next case turns out to be the murder of. . . one Frank Covino--an apparently blameless, hard-working, bright college kid. So Gabe naturally focuses his investigation around the Scorvellis--especially Dominic, who's rumored to have arranged his own brother's killing. And when Frank Covino's convict brother, an apparent Scorvelli enforcer, is stabbed in prison, Wager and partner Max (a huge Scot who's rediscovering his roots via bagpipe lessons) concentrate even harder on the mob angle--which causes interdepartmental wrangles with the organized-crime unit. Not quite top-drawer Burns (a little overextended), but the Latino neighborhood comes through with verve; the tough-cop repartee is impeccable (""Ain't that the way it goes, Gabe? When you got a suspect identified the goddamned victim never dies""); and there's a full, almost plausible twist at the end. Solid.