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Categories: Books, Literature & Fiction, United States



Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 20 inches
ISBN-13: 978-0525934707
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0525934707
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Print length: 288 pages
Publication date: July 1, 1992
subtitle: Hardcover – July 1, 1992
author: Andrew Coburn
review: Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly When a vicious murder rocks serene Bensington, Mass., the idiosyncrasies of small-town life take center stage in this diverting suburban suspense novel. On an idyllic spring afternoon, a single rifle shot fells Flo Lapham as she works in her backyard; her husband, Earl, a witness, drops dead of a heart attack. Daughter Lydia, 30, survives, but finds the tragedy difficult to comprehend. The police are also at a loss. Local chief James Morgan suspects backwoods crazies, the Rayball family, while state police Lt. Bakinowski suspects Lydia's former lover, Matt MacGregor, one of Morgan's men. Morgan is an agreeable protagonist--part Lothario (he beds women whose wealthy husbands are off on business) and part social worker. The quirks of other locals, whose hometown is under pressure from city and state politics, offer interest and amusement. Coburn's ( Goldilocks ) engaging narrative yields little sense of climax and an overly tidy resolution, but readers will enjoy the lively pace and intriguing local color. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews This comes on like a police procedural, but don't be fooled: Coburn (The Babysitter, Goldilocks, etc.) is actually using homicide as an excuse to peer under the window shades of another of his New England towns. Why would a sniper shoot Flo Lapham, and incidentally cause her husband Earl to suffer a fatal coronary, as they sat inoffensively in their backyard? Bensington, Mass., police chief James Morgan figures the killer must have been aiming for Flo's daughter Lydia, a nurse who was informally engaged to Officer Matt MacGregor, as a way of getting at Matt. But Morgan takes time out from his legendary dalliances with the well-groomed wives of the Heights--Sissy Alexander, Arlene Bowman, and Christine Poole--to question earnest, irresponsible Rev. Austin Stottle, tightfisted Selectman Randolph Jackson, and the three no- account Rayballs (Korea vet Clement--a.k.a. Chico in his alter ego as a lounge lizard who brings moments of joy to aging ladies--his retarded brother Junior, and Papa, long suspected of killing his wife years ago). What he finds is enough untidy passion--even without the news that Lydia had turned down Matt's marriage proposal or the revelation of a bank scam involving his favorite cuckolds Gerald Bowman and Calvin Poole--to motivate a dozen murders. Instead of tracking down the killer, though, Morgan seems more intent on bedding down with Lydia. Weird. Forget the on-again, off-again plot: the real treat here is the fun-house gallery of sad-eyed loonies, from patently crazy Junior to the townsfolk, whose normalcy is only relative. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.