DATE: Sunday, June 15, 1997                 TAG: 9706100418

SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J2   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Book Review

SOURCE: By Shirley Presberg

                                            LENGTH:   85 lines

FROM THE MYSTERY SHELF

HOCUS

An Irene Kelly Mystery

JAN BURKE

Simon & Shuster. 346 pp. $22.

Reporter Irene Kelly's husband Frank, a policeman, is kidnapped by two men whom he rescued from kidnappers when they were boys. When Irene and the police examine the background of the first kidnapping, they discover that one of the abductors was found dead soon after the rescue, but the other one escaped. The boys remained speechless for years after their ordeal and were never able to identify the one who got away, but they knew he was a cop. They are now troubled young men who hope that the kidnapping of Frank will force the renegade cop to give himself up. Burke creates enormous tension with her unusual plot.

DEADLY HARVEST

LEONARD GOLDBERG

Dutton. 340 pp., $23.95.

Forensic pathologist Joanna Blalock learns of a horrifying organ transplant scheme when she searches for a matching liver for her sister, who is dying from a lethal virus. At first it appears that wealthy men select their wives on the basis of their tissue type in case these men might need organ transplants in the future. The reality is worse; their children are being raised as the potential donors. When Joanna discovers the scheme, the perpetrators concoct a diabolical plot to kill her but leave her intact so that her own organs can be used in transplants. This first-rate medical thriller easily outshines Patricia Cornwell's latest novels.

MEXICAN HAT

MICHAEL McGARRITY

W.W. Norton. 316 pp. $22.95.

When Kevin Kerney, former Santa Fe, N.M., chief of detectives, investigates the poaching of endangered wildlife in his new job as temporary forest ranger, he uncovers a 60-year-old murder. His inquiries lead him to a dangerous anti-government militia comprised of the local sheriff, his deputies and several prominent businessmen. They blow up his trailer and then kidnap him with intent to kill. Kerney, a likable hero, handles all obstacles with aplomb. Michael McGarrity's first Kevin Kerney mystery (this is his second) is a finalist for the Western Writers of America's Best Western Novel of 1996. He'll be tough to beat.

COSI FAN TUTTI

MICHAEL DIBDIN

Pantheon. 247 pp. $23.

Police officer Aurelio Zen, working in an inferior posting in Naples, Italy, after a professional setback in Rome, assumes a ``state of absentee indolence'' with his new job. Instead of doing his official work, he helps a widow who fears her two daughters have fallen in love with criminals. He hires prostitutes to lure the suspected crooks away from the daughters, but is sidetracked when a bizarre anti-corruption group mistakenly identifies him as an influential Mafia character and marks him for execution. This supposed farce is occasionally amusing, but the profusion of confessions, disguises and mistaken identities is too overwhelming to sustain the humor.

THE ART OF BREAKING GLASS

MATTHEW HALL

Little, Brown. 324 pp. $23.95.

When New York cops take Bill Kaiser to Bellevue Hospital after he mutilates himself, psychiatric nurse Sharon Blautner finds herself fascinated with his ideas on social justice and with his intelligence. After Kaiser dupes Sharon into helping him escape, he ruthlessly eliminates his opponents as he pursues his agenda. The authorities, already suspicious of Sharon for her role in his escape, seriously question her loyalties when Kaiser begins to attack people whom he perceives to be her enemies. Matthew Hall does a sensational job of creating suspense and unusual characters. You end up admiring, albeit reluctantly, a person who is a terrorist, a kidnapper and a killer. It's a mind-boggling thriller with a remarkable ending.

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