Queen-sized investigator Josephine Fuller has an appealing (i.e., not self-deprecating) sense of humor; moreover she's comfortable with her body and confident in her abilities. In her third adventure (after Large Target
and Larger Than Death), she wrestles with the murder of her ex-husband's girlfriend, angry vibes disturbing her apartment and a sleazy ex-con who's wormed his way into the heart and bed of her friend Maxine. The loosely constructed plot allows Seattle-based Josephine ample room to explore romance ("as a large-sized woman, I've developed extra-sensitive radar for men who see me as a sexual being, versus men who see a surrogate mom") and to consort with a cast of unusual and sometimes amusing characters such as ex-husband Griffin Fuller, photographer and congenital philanderer, and Isadora Freechild, lesbian and mountain-climbing author of Finding Your Vegetarian Inner Child
. The murder of Francesca Etheridge, Isadora's sister and Griffin's girlfriend (and the probable cause of the split between Josephine and Griffin), provides the grist, but produces plenty of chaff too. Too many characters, too many blind alleys and some unexplained discrepancies weaken this entry in a series that has considerable promise. If Josephine's future cases offer challenges that match her size, she will be a formidable character. (July 9)
