The Promise of Lumby

Lumby fanatics are sure to stick by Fraser for her fourth installment of the series featuring her beloved townsfolk and the enigmatic, personified plastic Pink Flamingo Hank in the two-street rural Rockies' town, but newcomers might head for the hills. Sloppy with repeated use of the same descriptive words, the tale centers around newcomer Tom Candor replacing the town's beloved veterinarian. He's frowned upon because he keeps to himself (so as to not spill his secret of accidentally killing Ming the panda), but he does catch the heart of carpenter Mackenzie McGuire. Inserts of the local paper's news lend a well-needed faint chuckle in this meandering chaos of conundrums. Then there's Pam and Mark Walker, suddenly swarming with new dinner customers at their inn after a hot magazine review has foodies from across the country venturing to Lumby while the monks who sold the inn to the Walkers begin getting daily deliveries of exotic animals. It's a whirlwind of implausible activity, the perfect happy ending to every story line making it all that more unbelievable. (July)