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THE SIREN OF SOLACE GLEN
by Susan S. James
Berkley Prime Crime, April 2005
320 pages
$6.99
ISBN: 0425202003


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Flip Paxton lives in the small Maryland town of Solace Glen. At age 42 she is engaged to the love of her life, attorney Tom Scott, and they are building their dream house. Now if she can only get him to set the date.

But she keeps busy in the meantime as she has all the work she can handle as a cleaning lady. So busy, in fact, that she is advertising for help. Flip knows most people's secrets in the small town; what she doesn't uncover while cleaning homes she finds out from the group of church women called the Circle Ladies.

But first of all, who is this new client Tom will not divulge anything about? And when Flip sees a stunningly beautiful blond woman rush up the stairs saying it has been so long since she has seen Tom ­- what is she to think? Of course, Tom is true to her and in spite of herself Flip can't help liking Stewart Larkin, a former student of Tom's in law school. Stewart has escaped from a stalker in California and she and her billionaire father have decided she is safer in a small town where no one would expect to find her. But that is not to be.

As someone who should know how to keep confidences, Flip pretty much blabs everything she sees and hears all over town. It seems that the Bistro is the best restaurant in town, and all of the book's characters seemingly eat all three meals there. The owner and her daughter are the real town criers. Nothing is secret after they hear about it. Apparently this doesn't bother anyone and Tom continues to tell Flip things about his client.

This is the third book in a series and there seems to be a lot of back story from the two previous books that is merely alluded to in this book. But enough is revealed to enable the reader to know who the good guys are. There seems to be a lot of history in Flip's background concerning not only her late parents but also other members of the community concerning her ancestry which would be explained by reading said previous books one supposes.

The book is very cozy; the characters are amusing, some are truly caricatures, almost cartoon figures. Everyone seems to get along surprisingly well in the small town, with only a few exceptions. There is a bit of a mystery, the solving of which is no big surprise, but it's a light and pleasant book.

Reviewed by Lorraine Gelly, May 2005

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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