Rattlesnakes and Roses

Kate Winthrop, an Easterner of vintage heritage but little wealth, marries Gary Regal, a highly successful computer entrepreneur whose Anglo-Hispanic family owns a huge ranch in Southern California that goes back to the Spanish era. After the honeymoon, things between Kate and Gary sour, and Kate leaves the estate, planning to divorce her husband. But when Regal paterfamilias Julian dies, Gary lures her back to the ranch, and in short order, she learns that Julian has willed the estate to herbecause Julian thought she treasured it more than his own childrenand she comes to realize that someone is trying to kill her. The many suspects include her husband, her alcoholic sister-in-law, the sleazy farm manager, her husband's jealous secretary. Unfortunately, Oppenheimer, a professor at U.C., San Diego, describes rather than shows characters and events, and altogether the narrative reads like a tired novelization of episodes from Dallas or Dynasty. (April)