The Golden Chance

Krentz ( Gift of Gold ) concocts a breezy, funny tale of love conquering all. Philadelphia Fox, do-gooder and professional social worker, bristles when she unexpectedly inherits substantial holdings in a major electronics company jointly owned by the mighty Castleton and Lightfoot clans of Washington State. Phila is offended by the ``death machines'' the company builds for the Pentagon, by the Castletons and Lightfoots (``aristocrats with everything but the title''),robin/ comma added for ease of reading//pk and by the way the families have mistreated her late best friend. But an affair with the Lightfoots' black-sheep scion teaches Phila that even rich, conservative snobs can be confused and vulnerable. With marvelous economy, Krentz ties together every detail she introduces. Her charitable, affable vision results in a grand tale of harmony restored, replete with rehabilitation of its villainess. The care Krentz lavishes on her narrative would do honor to a far more serious novel and demonstrates once again a key factor in her success: an abiding respect for the reader. (Mar . )