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Mitch Berger, the pudgy Jewish New York film critic is upset. He proposed to Desiree Mitry, the tall, slim, African-American Connecticut State Trooper, but she refused him. The rumor mill of Dorset, Connecticut, has been busy and it is bruited about that they have had a fight and have broken up, so both Mitch and Des are fair game for the locals. A local homeless man named Pete, who lives in a trailer behind the service station and collects tin cans and bottles for the deposits, goes on his usual morning route but never finishes it. His body is found hidden in some tall grass near one of the home of Poochie Vickers, a wealthy eccentric woman who is noted for her culinary abilities (much like Julia Child). Pete has been beaten to death and his haul of recyclables is missing. That same early morning, Poochie's vintage gull wing Mercedes, worth over $400,000 is stolen. Poochie has two children. Her son Eric and his French wife run a local organic farm, while her daughter Claudia seems to have the knack of antagonizing everyone. Poochie's strange behavior, (she's hoarding chocolate bars which she never eats) is worrying Claudia and she wants to take over the management of her mother's estate, which is considerable. A pair of brothers who are perhaps Dorset's biggest troublemakers have been released from prison and Eric has hired them to work on his farm. But they haven't shown up for their first day of work, which also happens to be the day that Pete is killed and the Mercedes disappears. Handler presents us with a puzzling mystery. How many of these elements are part of the main problem, the murder? But he also gives us a picture of life in a small town on the Connecticut Gold Coast, with the dichotomy between the 'swamp yankees' and the wealthy families who inhabit the mansions. And we also get the interplay between Des and Mitch. Will Des, who loves Mitch, be able to commit, after having been dumped by her first husband? Widower Mitch keeps on hoping. We get it all in this book -- a good story, interesting characters, and a picture of small town New England life.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, March 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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