Common Passions

In this absorbing tale, Smith (Guilt by Silence) chronicles the lives of two sisters, Mallory and Diana Caine. As children in the 1960s, the girls saw their parents killed in an act of violence that the police dismissed as a drug deal gone bad. But Mallory, haunted by conflicting memories of the event, progresses from a rebellious teen raised by the degenerate preacher she calls The Rev to a popular talk-show hostess determined to clear her parents' names. Along the way, she has a brief love affair with Drew Beekman of the Newport Beach Beekmans. Drew's daddy, it turns out, has a keen personal interest in Mallory--an interest tied to her parents' lives. The characters are engaging and the story is basically satisfying, marred only by an overlong ending. (July)