The Barefoot Summer

Kate Steele, the likable heroine of this Texas-set contemporary, wears red to her husband’s funeral because black would have been a sign of respect, and that slam is before she learns he had two other wives. Conrad, murdered while buying flowers for yet another female friend, leaves behind Kate, Jamie Mendoza and her daughter Gracie, and pregnant Amanda Hilton. Even worse, sexy detective Waylon Kramer suspects that one (or all) of the three is the killer, and Kate, an affluent woman being groomed to succeed her mother as president of an oil company, is the most likely to have had the funds to hire a hit man. Each woman decides to take refuge at Conrad’s remote country cabin, where initial mutual horror soon ebbs and the three women grow as close as sisters. The only shadow is Det. Kramer’s ongoing investigation, and even he becomes smitten with one of the suspects. Prolific romance author Brown (Merry Christmas, Cowboy) shows she can also write women’s fiction in this charming story, which uses humor and vivid characters to show the value of building an unconventional chosen family. Agent: Erin Niumata, Folio Literary Management. (Jan.)