THE PAINTED LADY

What could make gadabout columnist Elias Hackshaw (The Twenty Acre Plot, 1991; The Nimby Factor, 1992) even less popular with his miraculously preserved Neanderthal neighbors in Kirkville, New York? Hack finds out when he takes a job as supervising contractor on stunning Hester DelGado's attempt to restore a neglected Victorian house as an ``unofficial halfway house'' for pregnant women. A neighborhood rash of Satanic graffiti turns town opinion solidly against Hester and Hack even before Sue Krevin, one of Hester's charter boarders, is killed on her front porch—and a post-mortem indicates that she wasn't even pregnant. Never one to resist a dangerous lady, Hack does a fine job succumbing to Hester's wiles and fending off Sue's high-school flame, Officer Ricky Reimer, while nosing out evidence of just why Hester is interested in the other painted lady that's brought her such bad luck. The mystery's never very mysterious this time, but Hack's high- jinks will bring a smile to everybody who's ever done battle with a civic association.