THE DEVEREAUX FILE

Ex-Chicago cop Lacy Lockington, introduced last year in The Fifth Script, runs afoul of the KGB, the CIA, the mob, and a screwball plot--which has him tracking the whereabouts of his old buddy Rafe Devereaux, who is either being hounded by an assassin named the ""Copperhead,"" was killed by him, or is him. Also on the trail: the slinky, sleep-with-everybody KGB agent Natasha, soon Lacy's staunchest ally. It seems that Devereaux, who made innumerable trips from Youngstown to Chicago, accompanied by a luscious young thing, has gone to ground with a kilo of cocaine belonging to the mob--who, in trying to get it back, kill the luscious young thing's mom, a country singer Rafe had an affair with years ago. After many falling bodies, car chases, wig changes, allegiance switches, identity glitches, and jokes at the CIA's expense, Lacy finally finds Devreaux by recalling all the names of the 1906 Chicago Cubs, pinpointing his relationship to the infamous Copperhead and the drug czars, and then, for the umpteenth time, falling into the tantalizing arms of the defecting Natasha. A lumpy mix of tough-guy p.i. and comic caper, with the brawny stuff so-so and the funny bits truly hilarious. About six subplots too many, but Natasha is Spencer's best female character yet.