This marks the return of Isaiah "IQ" Quintabe-the brilliant young African-American private investigator working in East Long Beach, Calif. IQ, known to have the largest brain in the neighborhood, continues to accept payment for certain cases (such as the safe return of a kidnapped Pomeranian) in goods and services (such as "a hearty stew of vegetables, spices and pork cooked in butter"). But his latest "client" is no good-hearted local citizen; Angus Byrne is a loathsome arms dealer whom IQ calls "a plague on the world."

Byrne wants--demands--IQ to clear his troubled daughter of suspicion in the murder of a goon's partner, who was killed while being fitted for a suit at the daughter's boutique. If IQ doesn't comply, Byrne promises to smash his violinist girlfriend's fingers in career-wrecking fashion.

The job seems impossible: Security footage shows no one else entering or leaving the scene of the crime. The daughter herself is a split personality whose five elusive "alters" bring further suspicion that she herself committed the deed.

Mr. Ide is a remarkable writer, inhabiting the personae and rendering the back stories of a diverse assortment of characters: the brutal Angus Byrne (whose personal history makes his professional behavior understandable if not excusable); his daughter's multiple personalities in their bickering disarray; and IQ's own intuitive but socially inept psyche. Hi Five more than earns its triumphant title.