CHARM CITY

  As a former reporter, private investigator Tess Monaghan knows and loves every inch of her native Baltimore. It's a quirky city where baseball reigns, but lately homicide seems to be the second most popular sport. Business tycoon 'Wink' Wynkowski is trying to change all that by bringing pro basketball back to town - until a devastating, muck-raking expose of his lurid past appears on the front page of the Baltimore Beacon-Light. It's a surprise even to the editors, who thought they'd killed the piece. Instead, the piece killed Wink, found in his garage with the car running.