Murder In-Law — Paul Engleman

Quips more sour than amusing and implausible happenings weight Engleman's mystery, narrated by a New York private eye named Renzler. The time is 1972, after his divorce and subsequent alienation from his father-in-law, attorney Mike O'Leary, who now persuades the detective to help solve a tough case. O'Leary's client is a black man, Dwight Robinson, charged with killing his white wife Cynthia. Cynthia's family are the Vreelands, eminent New Jersey socialites related to a U.S. Congressman. These powerful forces, including their legal ally Roy Cohn, are ranged against Robinson and so are his neighbors, particularly the eccentric widow next door whose evidence can damn the accused. But Cynthia's sister Terry surprisingly offers Renzler information that becomes the backbone of his investigation and a weapon that defeats the murderer as well as a person guilty of a second killing in the meandering story. (November 17)