CHECK IT OUT

There’s a trail of clues for first-rate whodunits in nominees for the

2002 Agatha Awards. When presented in May, the awards will solve the case

involving which authors penned the best traditional mysteries published

in 2001 -- works typified by the novels of Agatha Christie, generally

with a low body count and an amateur detective on center stage.

Those nominated as best novel include Earlene Fowler’s “Arkansas

Traveler.” In her eighth outing starring folk art expert Benni Harper,

the Orange County writer (a frequent Newport Beach Central Library user)

sends the frisky museum director to Sugartree, Ark. for a church reunion.

Finding friends and relatives embroiled in racial, religious and romantic

rivalries, Benni marshals her spunk to solve a killing that threatens to

scar the hometown she loves.

An equally spirited heroine stars in Rhys Bowen’s best novel nominee

“Murphy’s Law,” the first of a new series by the creator of Welsh

constable Evan Evens. Forced to flee her native Ireland after she kills a

young man who was trying to rape her, brash Molly Murphy thinks she has

found sanctuary on Ellis Island. When she becomes a suspect in another

murder, then finds herself attracted to the man trying to convict her, a

search for justice in Tammany Hall-era New York ensues.

The action is set closer to home in best novel nominee “Shadows of

Sin.” In her newest thriller, Rochelle Krich has West L.A. detective

Jessie Drake investigating a triple murder in a prominent plastic

surgeon’s office. Dysfunction is as tortuous as the twists in the plot,

in a cast that includes a reformed child abuser, a teen runaway and a

rabbi who runs a haven for disturbed youth.

Other quirky characters inhabit the Pennsylvania steel town where

Bubbles Yablonsky, beautician-sleuth of Sarah Strohmeyer’s best first

mystery nominee “Bubbles Unbound,” incriminates a wealthy socialite with

a brutal murder. Armed with her Two Guys Community College certificate

and fueled by Doritos and Diet Pepsi, the wannabe reporter overcomes

peril after peril on her way to solving the case, getting even with her

ex and creatively displaying her cleavage.

Whether or not it wins an Agatha for best nonfiction of 2001, Tony

Hillerman’s “Seldom Disappointed” is as entertaining as any of his Navajo

mysteries. With glimpses of his Depression-era childhood, World War II

experiences and career highlights, the best-selling author reveals

himself as a man of integrity, always ready to jump into life’s

adventures. At the Agatha Awards banquet this spring, those adventures

will include receiving this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from Malice

Domestic, Ltd.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams, in collaboration with

Claudia Peterman. All titles may be reserved from home or office

computers by accessing the catalog at o7 www.newportbeachlibrary.org.

f7