Devil's Food: A Delicious Mystery

Adultery is the devil's food consumed by a bunch of Boston-based overachievers in this lusciously complex, irresistible tale. Weber, a concert pianist and author of Frost of the Fiddler, deftly combines two parts ferocious farce with one part sentimental belief in the redemptive possibilities of love. The fun begins when the brilliantly successful but emotionally clueless architect Ross Major decides that his lovely wife, Emily, a well-known local chef, is having an affair with his over-sexed partner. Ross is right, but in a fractured way. His partner is indeed having an affair--with Emily's glamorous identical twin, Hollywood movie star Phillippa Banks, who is as wickedly self-absorbed as Emily is bourgeois-nice. After Philippa's lover dies in the middle of dinner at the restaurant where Emily works, it turns out that Ross was right about Emily, too, although her affair was not with the now-dead partner. When the body of the restaurant's dishwasher washes up on the shore of the Fenway River, the plot begins twisting in earnest. The sisters, believing that Philippa has been the murder target, are off to find the culprit, changing planes, hotels and identities with breathtaking speed and comic results. Weber is dazzling as she juggles eccentric characters, including monks who deliver mushrooms, Philippa's sleazy agent, wronged wives, honorable lovers and a befuddled police detective. Justice is unexpectedly served in this utterly absorbing, sexy, exhilarating read that also packs a lasting emotional wallop. Film rights optioned to Daniel Wilson Productions. (Mar.)