Linda Fairstein: The Deadhouse

By MICHELE HEWITSON

Linda Fairstein would be really good if only she could write.

Given that her day job is running the sex crimes unit of the District Attorney's Office in Manhattan, she probably writes great reports. As in: "My first impulse had been to call the victim's family, despite the late hour, to offer our assistance in the aftermath of this tragic turn of events." Yawn.

The tragic turn of events is that Lola Dakota, a victim of domestic violence, has taken part in her own staged-for-television-news death as part of an undercover operation to help the police to catch her husband, who has hired a hitman to kill her.

The husband safely in custody, Lola should be home having a glass of champagne and a warm bath to wash off the tomato sauce. But Lola turns up dead. It's egg-on-face and face-the-press time for the cops. Assistant district attorney Alexandra Cooper is brought in to sort out the mess - and find the real killer.

The best bits are historical: on Roosevelt Island off Manhattan are the remains of a Victorian penitentiary and lunatic asylum. There's a really good thriller waiting to be set there. This isn't it.

Little, Brown & Co

$34.95