Mysteries

It’s not often one encounters a fictional character as memorable as Sandy Polsen, the lovely sociopath whose infuriatingly believable lies make life hell for the hero of Barry Siegel’s “The Perfect Witness” (Ballantine, 352 pages, $24). Siegel, a reporter for The Times whose true-crime novel, “A Death in White Bear Lake,” was nominated for an Edgar, has chosen to make his fiction debut with an intricately plotted legal thriller focusing on two trials, both of which turn on Polsen’s very suspect testimony.

In the first, the author’s protagonist, Greg Monarch, a likable small-town lawyer, must convince a jury she is lying, or else his client and former partner will be convicted of murder. In the second trial, he has to prove Polsen is telling the truth.

Monarch’s courtroom duels with the disturbed but extremely devious Polsen are fascinating set pieces, but they’re not the only delights the novel has to offer. Its backdrop is a coastal town in central California that, though fictitious, is so well-conceived you’d swear you’ve driven through it a hundred times. And the population includes an assortment of dimensional characters of good, bad and ugly intent. Mystery fans will be happy to note that most of them--Monarch, his client Polsen, the district attorney--all harbor secrets. The town has a secret too. And, for the fans of paranoia-inducing thrillers, there’s even a government cover-up.

*

“Shelter From the Storm” (Putnam, 226 pages, $23.95) is the fourth outing for Tubby Dubonnet, novelist Tony Dunbar’s good-natured and effective New Orleans criminal lawyer. The breezy barrister’s first three brushes with the Crescent City’s homicidal element, though providing ample evidence of Tubby’s raffish charm as well as the author’s borderline parodic, sneaky plotting, were still nothing more than above-average mysteries. “Storm” carries the series to a considerably higher level.

It’s Mardi Gras time in Tubby’s beloved town, but the local holiday’s uninhibited frivolity is being undermined by a relentless rainstorm. And, owing to New Orleans’ sub-sea level location and faulty sewage systems, the downpour suddenly turns into a life-threatening flood. Caught in its wake are Tubby and an assortment of disparate characters, including his levelheaded teenage daughter, a band of vicious bank robbers, a mildly larcenous lady tourist and two young men seeking a carefree respite from their Babbity jobs in Atlanta.

Employing punchy, Elmore Leonard-like scenes, Dunbar keeps the action hopping from one character to another, all the while moving them toward an inevitable confrontation. Meanwhile, he gives us a unique, credible portrait of that usually carefree city with semisubmerged streetcars and pirogies floating through the French Quarter.

But as entertaining as “Storm” is, and maybe because it is so good, it will leave you feeling unsatisfied and cheated. Why? Its ending is a cliffhanger. You’ll have to buy the next book in the series to get the full story. With all the unanswered questions in the real world, the least that mystery fiction should provide, especially at these prices, is a sense of closure.

*

Though its publisher has taken great pains to disguise the fact, Lawrence Block’s new book, “Hit Man” (Morrow, 259 pages, $22), isn’t really a novel. It’s a collection of short stories about a professional killer named Keller, many of which have appeared previously in anthologies and in Playboy magazine. Since Block is a gifted fictioneer with, to reuse a quote describing filmmaker Billy Wilder, “a mind full of razor blades,” these short pieces are of a high caliber.

Not since Graham Greene’s hired gun have we had such a complex and human homicidal antihero. The author gets more mileage than one might imagine from his variations on the contract killing theme, including a fair amount of good dark fun. And, actually, by reading the tales as a piece, rather than in their scattered debuts, you can better appreciate the sense of continuity Block has bothered to maintain, including Keller’s progress in coming to grips with the mental and emotional demands of his solitary existence. But, bottom line, be warned: “Hit Man” is a collection of short stories.

*

Dick Lochte reviews mystery books every four weeks. Next week: Rochelle O’Gorman Flynn on audio books.