North of Boston

Elo’s outstanding debut stars an intelligent, confident woman of Russian descent, Pirio Kasparov, who survives for nearly four hours in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic before being rescued. Pirio was helping lobsterman Ned Rizzo bait traps when his boat was rammed in the fog by a freighter about 25 miles northeast of Boston Harbor. Ned, the husband of a close friend Pirio met at boarding school in Maine, is presumed drowned. Now dubbed “the swimmer” by the press, Pirio begins to believe that the collision at sea was deliberate. She teams with investigative reporter Russell Parnell, following a trail from Boston to Canada’s Baffin Bay. Pirio grew up in the shadow of her late mother, a beautiful model who died when she was 10, and inherited the cynicism of her father, who considered her a problem child. Pirio’s ability to maneuver in various strata of Boston society, learned from her parents who both rose from humble origins, comes in handy in her quest for answers. The brisk plot smoothly incorporates such far-flung subjects as environmental issues, the fishing industry, and the perfume business. Agent: Esmond Harmsworth, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary & Entertainment Agency. (Jan.)