Four men, three of them friends since childhood, go grouse hunting on Blind Sheep Mountain on a clear, cold winter afternoon. Only three come back alive. Was the shooting death of the stranger among them an accident or was it murder? That"s the setup for William Hoffman"s novel of family secrets, male rivalry, and the bitter under taste of adult friendship. Unfortunately Hoffman chooses as his central character the least interesting of the men, a phlegmatic, underachieving lawyer named Walter Frampton. Frampton"s affection for Drake Wingo and Cliff Dickens is severely tested when Wendell Ripley, described as a casual business acquaintance of Drake"s, is shot and killed by Cliff. But it"s Drake who interests the reader. An avid sportsman, successful entrepreneur, and devoted family man, his personal philosophy, expressed in his aptly titled pamphlet "The Way of the Grouse," hints at his darker side, which Hoffman unfortunately never develops clearly enough to make the book"s predictable denouement fully understandable. And Wendell, whose affiliation with the Watchers, a Virginia religious cult, may hold the secret to his death as well as his life, remains equally shadowy even when his motives for joining the hunt and befriending Drake are ultimately revealed. Blood and Guile is slow- moving, lacking dramatic tension despite a promising plot. Hoffman, the prizewinning author of Tidewater Blood, has a deep affection for his landscape and obvious skill at limning it, but that"s not quite enough to keep the reader slogging through. --Jane Adams