At Taylor Allderdice High School, Dan Ross was first in his class; his best friend, Ted Lucky, was second; and his belligerent, jealous half-brother, Paul LaBeau, was close behind.

	"FALLEN" By Kathleen George Dell Books ($6.99, paper)

But Lucky didn't make it to graduation. He died in a fall, with his blood full of drugs and alcohol, habits Ross thought were in Lucky's past.

A few years later, LaBeau was reported dead of a drug overdose in Atlantic City after working his way through medical school.

And now, a quarter-century later, Ross, who became a physician, is dead, shot in the heart. His slaying comes days before the opening of his center for troubled youth, one he created in the memory of Lucky and LaBeau.

Who would have wanted the generous, kind-hearted doctor dead?

The reader of the latest book by George, a director and theater professor at the University of Pittsburgh, knows the answer well before the protagonists of this engrossing suspense story.

The sweet agony of the reading is watching the protagonists come to the same conclusion.

Ross' widow, Elizabeth, believes her husband was a victim of random violence. Though she is a therapist, she cannot wrap herself around any other explanation for the murder.

But police Commander Richard Christie isn't so sure.

He keeps going back to that trio of high school high-achievers and the complicated relationships among them. His musings lead to the question: What if LaBeau really isn't dead?

He follows that thought well beyond the call of duty, as well as beyond the borders of Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Ross waits for closure at the same time she finds herself rapidly falling, at least sexually, for a new neighbor.

Guilt and need duel for her soul as she plunges into a relationship with Frank Razzi, a mysterious screenwriter and part-time Pitt professor.

It's hard to go into George's book much further without giving away too much of the plot. Though the reader learns the most necessary answer early in the book, there's no reason to spoil the preceding pages.

Suffice it to say that this book is well-written and well-plotted, with elegant language equal to that of mainstream literature and psychological profiles of each main character as gripping as Jonathan Kellerman's at his best.

It is not just a story but a study of grief, jealousy, deception and instinct.

George will read excerpts from and sign copies of "Fallen" at 7 p.m. Thursday at Barnes & Noble Booksellers at the Waterfront Town Center in Homestead.