Murder on their minds

A confidential report missing, a news-photographer blackjacked, a girl mugged, one of Boston's most Olympian families secretly investigated, an ex-cop killed. Which of these things related to one another? Which were blind alleys? Kent Murdock of the Courier had asked to be put full-time on the case. Tom Brady, the murdered man, had been a friend of his. Walt Carey, the newsman whod been slugged, was another. And tawny, striking Rita Alderson, who'd asked Kent's help before it all began, wanted to be a third. The missing report was the key. Tom Brady's letter made that clear: "No question about this being the biggest case I ever worked on," it began. "But when I think of the trouble I'm making for a lot of people sometimes I wish I hadn't started." The thing he hadn't known was the trouble he'd started for himself. Kent Murdock is probably mysterydom's most popular news-photographer, and George Harmon Coxe certainly one of our most popular mystery writers. Together they make a combination that's hard to beat.