The Groaning Board

The seventh in the entertaining Smith and Wetzon series (after These Bones Were Made for Dancin', 1995) weighs in more heavily on Wetzon, who risks her life and picks up a new beau, than on the Machiavellian Smith, who's busy restructuring their jointly owned Wall Street executive search firm. Wetzon's current lover, NYPD Detective Silvestri, becomes morose and distant after his partner's sister-in-law, whom he'd once dated and who had been harassed by a rash of phone calls, dies of poisoning. Wetzon is left on her own, angry and confused. Meanwhile, Smith drags her along to the Groaning Board, a popular food store, to talk about plans for a catered dinner. There they find a steamy atmosphere involving the two women owners, A.T. Barron and Micklynn Devora, a rude television producer and the 16-year-old girl Micklynn unofficially adopted a couple of years before. Wetzon learns that A.T. is angling to have the company go public, a move that Micklynn adamantly resists, and that Micklynn and the dead woman were friends. After it's determined that the poison was in one of Micklynn's muffins, Micklynn hires Wetzon to help find the real killer. After another woman is poisoned, Wetzon is threatened--by sinister phone calls and attempts on her life. This convoluted tale is lean on Wall Street gossip, but it will hold readers' interest with its characters' complex interactions and with insights on business start-ups and their evolution. (June)