Kat Scratch Fever

Karen Kijewski's eighth Kat Colorado mystery, Kat Scratch Fever, takes the streetwise Sacramento private investigator into the heart of a charity riddled with blackmail, extortion, and embezzlement. When a local lawyer commits suicide, Kat quickly discovers what might have pushed him over the brink: a videotape featuring him having sex with a beautiful young woman who later claims to be his daughter. While this detective story rates only a ''high medium'' in reader solvability and a ''marginal'' in plausibility, it delivers its best punch in touch, resilient Kat — especially in the novel's final cliffhanger, a personal twist that makes us wonder if this Kat will have only nine lives. A-