Dublin theater veteran Declan Hughes has given mystery fiction another try with his second thriller "The Color of Blood." Set in Dublin, "The Color of Blood" features investigator Ed Loy, who is hired by a member of one of Dublin's most respectable families. Loy is charged with finding the missing daughter of venerable dentist Shane Howard. Swiftly, however, a missing-person case becomes a murder case, when people related to the missing girl start dying. But even those cases are less complicated than the clues Loy is uncovering about the beloved Howard family. Not unlike John Banville's recent mystery "Christine Falls" (written as Benjamin Black), "The Color of Blood" is also about the corruption at the heart of respectable Dublin. For 20 years, Hughes has worked as a director and playwright in Dublin. His skills with pacing and plot are put to excellent use in "The Color of Blood." ($24.95 / 352 pages /William Morrow)