After an excursion to New York City in his fine but atypical Plain and Normal (1998), Wilcox returns triumphantly to Tula Springs, La., the setting for most of his novels, starting with his dazzling debut, Modern Baptists (1983). Twenty years later, the author's quintessential Southern town still boasts its share of endearing eccentrics. A former college professor with a Ph.D. in music, Lou Jones writes a monthly column for the North American Bassoon Society newsletter, but she earns her bread as the receptionist at WaistWatch, a fundamentalist-owned "makeover franchise." ("Every day at WaistWatch is Christmas, the franchise's orientation booklet explains. Every client is gifted every day with a rise in self-esteem.") Lou's friend and fellow employee, Maigrite, who has one leg shorter than the other, is too proud to park in the WaistWatch handicap space and is always taking Lou's spot. So in an effort to create a proper parking space for Maigrite, Lou tries to cover the blue handicap lines with ivory paint (the asphalt's "pits and humps ruining her straight line"), thereby attracting the unwelcome attention of Mrs. Melvin Tudie, the local tax assessor. This is just one of many small, interlocking incidents in a comic plot that doesn't seem to go much of anywhere, yet manages to make some subtle points about such serious issues as racial and religious tolerance. Wilcox's eye for the telling detail is as unerring as ever, his dead-on dialogue sparkles with Southern charm and his affection for his well-meaning if often misguided characters is infectious. Once again he shows that gentle, civilized humor can be quite as effective as the more over-the-top variety. (Sept. 15)
