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David Handler has a formula. It's the same one he used in his Edgar-winning Stewart Hoag series, and it works. In this book, the larger-than-life character is Wendell "Hangtown" Fry, a world-famous but reclusive sculptor who lives with his two daughters in a hot pink farmhouse on the outskirts of Dorset, Connecticut. Film critic Mitch Berger has left New York to make his home in Dorset and meets Hangtown at the local dump. As luck would have it, Hangtown takes a shine to Berger and they develop a close friendship very quickly. Dorset is caught up in a battle that pits preservationists against ruthless and deceitful real estate developers who threaten to irrevocably alter the sleepy town. Each of Hangtown's two daughters comes down on the opposite side of the development question. The femme fatale Takai is a slutty real estate agent who will profit from the development, while the sweet school teacher, Moose, staunchly supports the preservationists. When one of the daughters in murdered, Berger is able to assist his girlfriend, Desiree Mitry, a former state police homicide officer, who has given up homicide for community policing so that she can devote herself to the study of art. Berger plays the inside man in the investigation, using his friendship with Hangtown to provide Mitry with insight into the members of this bizarre little family. Handler is a witty writer who is skilled enough to make his well-worn formula work. The relationship between Jewish Berger and black Mitry reflects honestly, if in a somewhat stereotypical fashion, the problems of two wounded people from different races who find themselves in love. THE HOT PINK FARMHOUSE is an engaging read enlivened by quirky characters with secret flaws, movie trivia, and the Peyton Place atmosphere of this small town.
Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, January 2004
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