MYSTERIES

Only the very talented can bring off a cliff-hanger ending without infuriating the reader. Julia Spencer-Fleming, creator of the Clare Fergusson-Russ Van Alstyne novels, is one of the few.

Last time out, in "All Mortal Flesh," Russ' wife, Linda, was killed in a car crash while Russ, the police chief of fictional Millers Kill in upstate New York, was rescuing Clare, an Episcopal priest, from a crazed killer. Russ and Clare had long been drawn to each other, but Russ loved his wife, too; now, in I Shall Not Want (336 pages, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95), the sixth book in the series, a rock wall of grief and guilt separates them.

Spencer-Fleming grounds the plot in the issue of illegal immigration. A Hispanic man is found dead, and when two more bodies turn up, Russ is confronted with the possibility of a serial killer. Or is this a case of rival drug-smuggling gangs, or one of mindless redneck violence? Whatever the motive, Russ and Clare find themselves thrown together by events.

The answers come, but not before Spencer-Fleming delivers shock after shock. With arresting prose ("He stalked off like a mood-reversed Cheshire Cat, leaving his frown hanging in the air between them.") and characters the reader has come to think of as friends, "I Shall Not Want" carries an emotional punch that resonates long after the last page is turned.

A dandy mystery, "I Shall Not Want" is so much more -- a study in forgiveness, an act of faith and a roller-coaster ride with another wrenching conclusion. Yes, you'll laugh. And you might well find tears in your eyes, too. With each book, Spencer-Fleming just keeps getting better. This one may be her masterpiece, and it will leave the reader wanting more.

. . .

To call British novelist Ruth Rendell prolific is akin to calling the Grand Canyon a slight dip in the landscape. Rendell has written 21 Inspector Wexford novels, 23 stand-alones (not counting 12 under her alternate name, Barbara Vine), seven short-story collections and two novellas. And although the quality varies -- with those numbers, whose wouldn't? -- even her mediocre books tower above so many other writers'.

Not in the Flesh (304 pages, Crown, $25.95) finds Wexford investigating mysteries of the past. First, a truffle-hunting dog digs up part of a skeleton in a field belonging to local curmudgeon John Grimble. Not long after, more skeletal remains are found in a rundown bungalow that had been left to Grimble by his stepfather.

That Grimble is a killer is, of course, much too obvious a solution. And in any case, in a Rendell novel, things are seldom what they seem. Enter a large cast of characters of whom Wexford and his subordinates must make sense.

Graced with Rendell's always-evocative writing, an intriguing puzzle with a surprising twist and a disturbing subplot involving the ritual genital mutilation of young girls, "Not in the Flesh" is the work of a writer who continues to command respect and satisfy her legion of readers.

. . .

Oh, sigh the mystery fans: If only someone would write an English house-party novel, set in the Golden Age and infused with its sensibilities.

Someone is. And Dolores Gordon-Smith brings the setting and the story alive in Mad About the Boy? (288 pages, SohoConstable, $24.95), the second in her Jack Haldean series. It's 1923, and Jack, a World War I veteran who writes detective stories, is visiting his cousin Isabelle Rivers at her parents' stately home, where the parents have gathered a crowd for their silver-anniversary festivities.

But the party turns ugly when a guest is found shot to death. An alleged suicide note is found nearby, but Jack suspects murder. When another guest is discovered stabbed to death, Jack goes on the hunt. Complicating matters are a veritable school of red herrings, Isabelle's being torn between two suitors and the appearance of some communist revolutionaries.

With vision and vigor, Gordon-Smith pulls off another Golden Age delight -- one touched with contemporary concerns -- that will have readers longing for the return of the era, and for Jack and his pals.

. . .

In real life, a Hollywood murder trial simultaneously fascinates and repels (think O.J. Simpson, Robert Blake and Phil Spector). But in fiction, you can forget the "repels." In Elizabeth Sims' first entry in a projected series, The Actress (400 pages, St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95), the fascination will keep you up late.

Struggling actress Rita Farmer can barely keep food in her tiny apartment for herself and her 4-year-old son, Petey. And her nasty former husband is threatening to sue for sole custody. So when a well-known lawyer approaches her with a $1,000-a-day offer, she accepts.

Her task: help humanize, through acting techniques, Beverly Hills socialite Eileen Tenaway, who's charged with giving her toddler daughter, Gabriella, a lethal dose of Valium. But Rita isn't satisfied with simply carrying out her assignment; she's determined to find out who killed Gabriella. And her fixation puts Rita and those she loves in grave danger.

Fast-paced and engagingly written, "The Actress" has it all over reality: It comes to a satisfactory conclusion, the real killers are exposed -- and it doesn't take months to reach a conclusion.

. . .

Some years ago, two Richmond women were partners in a casual game of bridge. Player A opened with one no-trump, an indication of a good hand. Her partner, Player B, like both opponents, passed. Because all had agreed that the group wouldn't play one-bids, the cards were tossed in. That's when Player A noticed that Player B had held all four aces. So why didn't she bid? "I didn't have a suit," Player B responded.

Said Player A in recounting this horror a few days later, "I could cheerfully have leapt across the table and killed her."

She didn't, of course, but one character in The Unkindest Cut (256 pages, Obsidian, $6.99), Honor Hartman's second entry in her Bridge Club series, isn't so lucky.

When Houstonites Emma Diamond, Sophie Parker and Marylou Lockridge travel to the Texas Hill Country for a bridge retreat, they're expecting some stimulating bridge and a relaxing few days. What they find is professional rivalry, spousal rage and a body.

But with a deft hand, Emma and Co. shuffle the clues and lay down their findings in this clever and captivating novel. High honors to Hartman for skillful play.
Contact Jay Strafford at (804) 649-6698 or jstrafford@timesdispatch.com