THE LIES THAT BIND

THE LIES THAT BIND Judith Van Gieson (HarperCollins, $20) Van Gieson's latest mystery featuring the inquisitive female lawyer Neil Hamel tries for the world-weary moodiness of film noir. It just ends up bellyaching, but it's still a good, complicated read. Neil is asked to defend Martha Conover, accused of a hit-and-run death. The victim, Justine, was possibly involved with terrorists and certainly with Mrs. Conover's grandson. Hamel uncovers the truth while musing bitterly about the S&L scandal and the Southwest's crumbling ecology. Occasionally the lawyer's cynical humor shines through, as when she investigates an abandoned hotel despite being warned, ''It's not a great place for a woman alone.'' She replies, ''What is?'' Those moments are worth a few extraneous complaints about how nonnative plants increase New Mexico's pollen count. B -KW