In her latest novel Lillian O Donnell

introduces Mici Anhalt--hard-nosed,

soft-hearted sister to Detective North

Mulcahaney, whom Ms. magazine

hailed as "the very best of the recent crop

of women sleuths." The castial brutality

of the big city is the backdrop for Mid s

first case--and Mici confronts it without

the protection ot a badge or a .38 police

special.

It s Saturday night in New York.

Teenagers terrorize the passengers on a

subway car--shooting one innocent

rider in the spine. A retarded old man is

beaten by a gunman in a West Side

liquor store.

And in Yorkville, on the other side of

[owu, a pregnant youlrg woman stum-

bles down tire middle of the street--her

cries fur help are ignored. An hour later

she tells the police that her husband has

been brutally murdered.

Mici Anhalt spends her days mop-

ping up after Saturday nights like this

one. As a caseworker for the Crime Vic-