Why do so many women swoon over sleaze? Upcher (Grace & Favor) investigates the age-old question with humor and verve. Good-natured Polly de Soto spends most of her life editing imaginary dialogues in her head. While she has a wicked sense of humor (she gets rid of tiresome guests by stoking her woodstove with alarming zeal), Polly rarely speaks her mind directly. Her stepdaughter, Luana, calls her "Polly Pushover," while her film producer husband, Johnny, thinks of her as his secretary, script reviewer, dog watcher and cheerleader. When Johnny leaves her, Polly is forced to focus on herself for a change. She throws herself into her own job, running a literary agency, and soon discovers a bestseller called Mr. Wrong, about a gorgeous serial killer who kills beautiful young women as soon as they start to fall for him. Polly quickly sells film rights, and on the movie set she meets a dreamy stud who—natch—turns out to be a dud. Polly realizes that she's fallen into the classic trap. "A woman knows who her Mr. Right is on paper, but when she meets him she's usually bored to tears. It's Mr. Wrong she falls in love with." She vows to embrace the single life, but just as she realizes how much she misses having a partner, she also discovers that her Mr. Right has been waiting in the wings all along. Polly is a likable spaz, and Upcher paints the literary and film worlds in delicious detail. Though the ending is implausibly tidy, fans of her first two witty page-turners won't be disappointed. (Nov.)
