Thom S

Western civilization has given us modern science, the wealth of free-market economics, the security of law, a sense of human rights and freedom, charity as a virtue, splendid art and music, philosophy grounded in reason, and innumerable other gifts we take for granted.

The unbeatable master of suspense returns, in a wickedly wayward case of artists, models, and murder. If larceny is good for the soul, Palm Beach must be confidence heaven - so discovers Lawrence Sanders's sleuth-about-town Archy McNally in his third boffo baffler, McNally's Risk. Hired by a formidable matron to investigate the shadowy bona fides of her bubble-headed son's beloved, Archy is wowed by the enigmatic innamorata's purity and pulchritude. But when the artist for whom she posed is killed, McNally's job takes on a decidedly dangerous turn, and he begins to suspect the demure damsel might be both a poser and a poseur.