Making Minty Malone

From the author of The Trials of Tiffany Trott comes an amusing tale about Minty Malone's year-long recovery after being jilted at the altar by her insurance salesman fianc , the self-righteous Dominic. Determined to overcome the ""Dominic Effect,"" Minty, a London radio reporter, gives her engagement ring to a street musician, takes off on a Paris honeymoon with her bridesmaid, and enrolls in a seminar on how not to be so helplessly nice that everyone takes advantage of her. Minty's workplace (in which she must compete with a lisping coworker for the job of presenter and fend off letters from a stalker) and home life (where cousin Amber and her obnoxious parrot have just moved in) prove to be fertile settings for the author's unwavering sense of humor and offhand wit. Wolff's talent for outrageous characters, like Minty's hopeless, ""philanthropoholic"" mother who supports such charities as the Canine Prosthetics Association, and the Boys'R'Us male escort who can't quit discussing his bowel problems, more than makes up for the novel's sappy ending. (July)