Nina, the Bandit Queen

Concerned mother Nina Dolgoy, who lives on welfare in a rundown area of an unnamed Canadian city, aspires to small goals at the start of this comedic caper from Slinger (Punch Line). She stands up to the ice cream truck harassing local residents and works to reopen the condemned neighborhood school pool. When her financial straits lead her to contemplate bank robbery at the same time her convict brother takes part in one, she and her family become the focus of unwanted attention from friends, neighbors, criminal elements, and the authorities, who are convinced they must have the stolen funds. Slinger, a former Toronto Star columnist, mines the absurdities of life for humor, and has a number of nice turns of phrase and observations on the human condition, but he introduces so many disparate threads that even a relatively high body count can’t resolve them all. Agent: Beverley Slopen, Beverley Slopen Literary Agency. (Mar.)