Robert B. Parker's hot property

Boston's gift to the private-eye pantheon is thrust into a case that's far too personal for his liking. Defense attorney Rita Fiore has come on to Spenser in lots of ways over the years, but never before by getting shot. As she takes two steps forward and one back at Mass General, Spenser and his wingman, Hawk--aided willingly by the police and a lot less willingly by everyone else--look for a motive for her drive-by shooting. The most likely suspect is Shannon Miles, the TV news anchor whose sexual harassment suit against co-anchor Brian Tully was shot down once Rita took Tully's case. But Spenser, looking beyond the obvious, focuses on Rita's clandestine relationship with Nicholas Drummond, whose meteoric rise as the boy wonder of the state Senate was cut short by his accidental drowning off Castle Island in South Boston last September, before the record snowfalls began. Or was it really accidental? Digging into Drummond's activities as Senate president, Spenser zeroes in on a high-stakes competition between kingpin developers Kevin McManus and Thomas Mauro for a parcel of land in South Boston they both have big plans for (McManus' plans in particular will make Beantown readers gasp). When Tully is killed and Shannon Miles shoots an intruder who escapes from her home, Spenser concludes that the mystery must run even deeper. As psychiatrist Susan Silverman, no fan of Rita's, tells her longtime lover: "The whole thing is a hot mess, isn't it?...And Rita being shot is just one part of it and you're trying to figure out how big a part." Though the premise is punchier than the payoff, fans of the series won't complain. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.