`PANAMA' RIFE WITH INTRIGUE OVER CANAL EFFORTS.

Byline: Orlando Sentinel 

``Panama,'' by Eric Zencey (Berkley; $6.99): Despite its title, Zencey's captivating first novel takes place largely in Paris. The year is 1892, and 54-year-old Henry Adams - yes, the historian and social philosopher - is drawn into the intrigue surrounding the scandal of France's failed struggles to build a canal in Panama. The tale's neatly paced narrative encompasses not only ideas about change and modernity, but also a presumed suicide, a case of mistaken identity, several gory murders, a mysteriously burned photograph, a warrant for Adams' arrest and a tense showdown between Adams and an armed villain in a room rapidly filling with smoke and flames.

``The Woman Who Walked Into Doors,'' by Roddy Doyle (Penguin; $11.95): As steeped in pathos and gritty humor as Doyle's earlier works, including ``Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha,'' this novel of a working-class wife and mother in Dublin is deeper, darker and more complex. That's because the story that Paula O'Leary relates is one filled with domestic abuse. ``He loved me and he beat me. I loved him and I took it. It's as simple as that, and as stupid and complicated.''

``White Rabbit,'' by Kate Phillips (HarperCollins; $12): Ruth Caster Hubble, the tart-tongued, cantankerous protagonist of Phillips' poignant first novel, is 88. Phillips deftly charts the last day of Ruth's life, taking us through her daily routine with her second husband, Henry, as well as back through her past and first marriage. As Ruth reflects on life then and now, she faces up to some truths and reaches a greater understanding of the need for human connection.

``Resistance,'' by Anita Shreve (Back Bay/Little, Brown; $12.95): In summary, Shreve's novel sounds like a standard, sentimental World War II romance. Injured when his plane crashes in the Belgian countryside, American pilot Ted Brice is rescued by villagers and hidden in the farmhouse attic of Henri and Claire Daussois. When Henri has to flee the Gestapo, Claire continues to shelter Ted, and the two fall in love. But Shreve, who has written about love and passion in such fine novels as ``Eden Close,'' widens the focus to include others in her story, especially a young boy whose father is a collaborator.