The Return of Jonah Gray

A by-the-numbers woman pursues an earthy beau in Cochran's above-average second novel. Sasha Gardner, a 31-year-old IRS senior auditor, is, of course, single, to the dismay of her mother. Her last boyfriend was a dud, and Sasha is merciless when sizing up potential dates, but the new archivist at work, Jeff Hill, passes muster; his "touch of OCD" complements Sasha's detail-orientation. Besides, with increasingly troublesome family drama, a terminally ill father and a series of strange phone calls at the office, Sasha could use distraction. Her relationship, however, is derailed as she's smacked with a taboo crush: Jonah Gray, the journalist, proprietor of a popular gardening Web site and, unfortunately, an auditee. As Sasha sifts through Gray's financial data, the man becomes more and more intriguing, and her professional queries only leave her more curious. Cochran's novel is better written than most in the genre, and her take on the divergent lives of arborists and accountants is both poignant and humorous. (Mar.)