Bitter Herbs
Natasha Cooper, Daphne Wright. Crown Publishers, $22 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-517-59023-2
Willow King, drab London civil servant by day and glamorous romance writer by night, embarks on her fourth mystery when she agrees to work on a memoir of Gloria Granger, a recently deceased writer whose once popular bodice rippers had become ``outmoded.'' Willow's task is complicated by the difficulty of finding anyone willing to say something pleasant about the self-centered and foul-tempered author. While interviewing Gloria's staff (including a much put-upon niece, Marilyn Posselthwate), publishing house employees and even a disgruntled reviewer, Willow warms to the idea that Gloria was murdered--a claim dismissed by her own lover, policeman Tom Worth. Willow's sympathies shift between the deceased victim and the still-living victims the woman left behind, triggering some (not very deep) questions about her own relationships with Tom and her housekeeper. Cooper ( Bloody Roses ) has penned an effective puzzle, but her characters often seem mean-spirited, an element that detracts from the novel's overall impact. (Apr.)
Details
Reviewed on: 02/28/1994
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 978-0-517-15639-1
Hardcover - 528 pages - 978-0-7089-3291-9
Paperback - 274 pages - 978-1-4472-3854-6
Paperback - 978-0-671-85276-4