Among the many intriguing aspects of Chris Larsgaard's riveting first novel, THE HEIR HUNTER (published by Delacorte) is his introduction to a protagonist with a unique vocation.

According to the terse book jacket biography of Mr. Larsgaard, he is a San Francisco based heir hunter. If you have little knowledge of what that means, don't feel like The Lone Ranger. Who would know that there are folks who track down heirs to estates when the deceased is without known family.

Real life heir hunter Chris Larsgaard has created a fictional duplicate of himself. Nick Merchant, based on the West Coast, and his East Coast partner, Ms. Alex Moreno (like in Rita) assume that they have hit the missing person jackpot. An Albany man, apparently without known heirs, dies in his bathtub, leaving 22 million dollars, and the race of vultures begins. Mr. Merchant is apparently not the sole heir hunter.

It turns out to be more complicated than anyone bargained for; mysterious government interlopers, foreign and historic intrigue, a multitude of obstacles facing Merchant before he can locate a legal heir, and even after an heir is discovered, the adventure escalates.

What makes THE HEIR HUNTER a successful novel is author Larsgaard's clarity of style. I have read more than one adventure mystery and given up in disgust, because the whos, whys and wheres become so convoluted that I often doubt if the author himself can follow the plot. Thank you, Mr. Ludlum.

Larsgaard doesn't break new ground. What he does is introduce us to a first-rate story-teller. THE HEIR HUNTER is just the novel for a long weekend trip somewhere. It's called a page turner, and it's a first class one.