Magic Mirror

The debut of detective Georgia Lee Maxwell is an all-around delight. Forty and restless, Georgia leaves her unsatisfying job as a society writer in Bay City, Fla., for an insecure but exciting position as a free-lancer in Paris for a slick New York magazine. She gets much more than she expects when, on a routine visit to the privately owned and well-guarded Musee Bellefroide, she witnesses the execution-style slaying of a security guard and the theft of an obscure relic called Nostradamus's mirror. Georgia is instantly immersed in unwanted publicity but decides to track down what could be the story of a lifetime. It appears that a number of people covet Nostradamus's mirror: a group of psychics called The Speculatori need the mirror to aid in their predictions; Madeline Bellefroide, the last remaining member of that distinguished family, desperately wants the mirror to forecast her immediate future and announces a handsome reward for its return; and the able and speedy French police think the relic will help them track the killerswho are now in murderous pursuit of Georgia. Indiscreet, insecure and easily panicked, Georgia Lee is an endearingly inept sleuth, who, in times of crisis, always makes the right decision. Friedman (Hurricane Season) writes a brisk and witty book full of sharply unexpected events and packed with wonderfully robust characters. (August)