Free Ride

Vera, a Ph.D. candidate in Victorian literature, is working in a New Mexico bookstore when Sammy Fortune waltzes in, steals a book, then returns a few days later to ask for a refund. Sammy claims to be a rock musician, rides a motorcycle and serves up creamy casseroles and chess pie a la mode. Vera falls under Sammy's spell, only one of several victims of this con woman who sells a car that isn't hers, forges checks and concocts a false case of leukemia as an excuse. Gayle introduces too many characters too soon--including Sammy's ex-lover Meredith, a promoter of solar energy; Pesh, who desires Vera; and Bentley, a generous soul who falls for Sammy's leukemia story--and fails to develop them. Most tolerate the intrusive and irritating Sammy, discovering her perfidy too late. Pretentious and inane writing (``Some incognito puzzlement vainly rang Vera's inner doorbell'') combined with a rambling plot make this novel a free ride to nowhere. Gayle wrote Rose under the name Marilyn Hoff. (Dec.)