The Great Grave Robbery

Here, "Little John" Rawlings (The Great Harvard Robbery, the Great Pyramid Robbery, etc.) is asked by his NYPD chief to investigate a robbery that happened 19 years ago - when Dr. James Mailer, now dead, stole virus particles from the International Cryogenics Corporation. Can Rawlings find them (and, coincidentally, splash glory on BCI, an industrial theft agency employing the chief's kid brother)? There follows a very long cryogenics primer, with a smidgin of plot - just enough to send Rawlings, Louis Dias, and a pair of female cops to Trinidad in search of a cryogenic container and a Dr. Leonard who ordered it. Rawlings then thinks he sees Mailer: brake failure kills one cop, injures Louie; and, after much island atmospherics, the Chief wings down to stage a press conference about the virus recovery - except that there's a twist: Leonard and the revitalized Mailer usurp the meeting and announce that they have achieved the first successful "reanimation" - and that Mailer himself is the proof. Fingerprints bear him out; but thanks to voice prints, a hunch, and a scent of collusion with an industry insider, Rawlings proves that the live Mailer and the dead Mailer are not one and the same, though the infinitely patient plotters waited 19 years to try to pull off their scam. More than anyone wants to know about cryogenics and an uneasy, lopsided balance between fact and fiction - with both suffering. A treatise, not a treat. (Kirkus Reviews)