cover image Staying Cool

Staying Cool

Catherine Todd. HarperTorch, $6.99 (416pp) ISBN 978-0-380-78775-3

From the author of Making Waves comes a delightfully amusing novel about a middle-aged woman trying to make some improvements in her life. It all starts when Ellen Santiago Laws serves on a jury that convicts a young man of murdering a matchmaker to the wealthy. When Ellen begins to wonder about the verdict and plays amateur sleuth, her life starts getting complicated. She finds that she can't ignore her own family history, including the Mexican father who abandoned her, and she wonders whether she will ever care about having another romantic attachment. The characters are vividly portrayed, especially Ellen and the dialogue is snappy and funny. One part mystery, one part soap opera, one part identity crisis and one part California eccentric make Staying Cool one fun read. (Dec.)