Jury Duty

Judging by this page-turner, Van Wormer (Any Given Moment) has put the time she recently spent serving on the sequestered jury of a Manhattan murder trial to good use: the novel is rife with salient details that only an insider could know. Ever wittily observant and not above some goodnatured self-mockery, Van Wormer centers the action on freshman juror and formerly successful novelist Libby Winslow, who, 19 months previously, ``had been thirty-two and was planning to get married; now she was thirty-four, her book was returning from bookstores in droves, and she was a single woman with cats.'' Libby is at first intrigued by fellow juror Alex, a renovation contractor. Despite his ``Marlboro Man'' looks and pointed attentions, however, there is something off-putting about him, so she eventually finds herself drawn to the unassuming William, an investment banker with a heart of gold. As the trial heats up, so does Libby and William's relationship; similarly, juror Melissa, a recovering alcoholic, begins to come to terms with her attraction to a female advertising client. Racy heterosexual episodes and a soup on of lesbian flirtation add headiness to an already satisfying brew, and readers will stay up late to devour the novel's final pages, in which the revelation of Alex's true colors combines with the jury's final deliberations to generate more than a little suspense. (Jan.)