KILLED IN THE FOG

To oblige Lady Pamela Arking, his network's imperious partner in TV Strato, troubleshooter Matt Cobb, on leave in London, agrees to a cloak-and-dagger scheme to exchange envelopes with a mysterious courier in a crowd--and the next thing you know, he's talking to Scotland Yard about how they could prove that he never fired the murder gun if they'd just give him a test. The actual shooter, who turns up shot himself, is a dead end; the courier's envelope, containing only a brochure for an English-language school, is another dead end; even an anonymous letter accusing Lady Pamela of running a visa mill looks like a dead end. Despite Matt's hints of epic malfeasance and mayhem, though, fans in search of excitement and ingenuity will be even more frustrated than he is. Matt's eighth (Killed in Fringe Time, 1995, etc.) is labored, sketchy, and well below average for the series.