Revolting Development

Bridget Montrose, housewife, mother and aspiring author, is jogging off the effects of her last pregnancy when she discovers a dead body in a dumpster. The corpse is identified as Margery Lomax, a real-estate developer notorious in Palo Alto for her ruthless personal and professional dealings. Bridget learns that Lomax was murdered and that Detective Paul Drake, who seems to be as interested in food and plump women as he is in solving murders, is focusing on Bridget's writers' group as a source of likely suspects. Lomax had alienated many people, among them Claudia Kaplan, Bridget's mentor, who has claimed that she was planning to murder Lomax with words; Benji MacIntyre, Lomax's nephew, who writes very long, very bad verse likening life to bicycling; Martin Hertschorn, an unemployed crusader for various left-wing causes whose source of income is questionable, and who throws a party celebrating Lomax's demise; and Melanie Dixon, cocaine addict and founder of the Palo Alto Writers' Association. As Bridget probes her friends' alibis over coffee, baby-sitting sessions and poetry readings, she begins to suspect that one of the would-be authors may indeed be capable of murder and that she will be the next victim. Although the plot is weak, the motives thin and the sleuthing fairly inept, the characters are nevertheless lively and engaging. (April)