Signet (Paperback), ISBN 0-451-20948-6

Writers who set their stories in your hometown play dice with your universe. On one hand, you want to like their work; you feel like a traitor if you don't. On the other, you catch them on -- and hate them for -- every detail they get wrong.

Ellen Byerrum, a veteran reporter on the federal beat, gets the Washington, D.C., details right. In Killer Hair, her first mystery, Byerrum feeds her engaging characters terrific lines and puts a snappy spin on their adventures that guarantees a fast read and lots of smiles.

The fun begins when high-end hairstylist Stella Lake pressures reluctant fashion reporter Lacey Smithsonian into investigating the suspicious death of a fellow stylist. The cops call it suicide. Stella, who discovered the badly shorn corpse, knows better.

Lacey takes longer to convince. But in a town where hair conveys everything from level of education to party affiliation, the hand that holds the scissors rules. Besides, Lacey could use a hard-hitting news story connected to the scandal of the hour. She wants out of the fashion features ghetto so bad, it makes her fingers itch under her stylish, retro gloves. Where, oh, where is Walter Burns when you really need him?

All the beloved tropes of the cozy mystery, from red hairings -- er, herrings to hunky love interests with ties to law enforcement, make their appearance. This needn't be seen as a bad thing. Genre fans don't expect originality in cozy plots. Much of their appeal lies in the familiarity and safety of their routines. The stars in the field shine in other ways.

Like Sharyn McCrumb, Byerrum uses the form as a vehicle for some genuinely funny social commentary. She turns a clear, mostly affectionate eye on what one of our local banks satirized as: "The most important city, in the most important country, on the most important planet, in the most important solar system…"

Our status-conscious capital and its inhabitants' obsessive need to define and chart every nuance of power provides a wealth of material to work with. After all, inside the Washington, D.C., Beltway, a car isn't just a car. It's where you stand in the political universe -- the most important one, of course.

Jean Marie Ward

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