The Mysterious World of Men and Women Looking

Sundel's novel mixes a murder with a look at the rituals of dating. Fresh from divorce, 34-year-old Sharon Kaminsky is sharing a room with 29-year-old Judy Furmin at a Fire Island, N.Y., beach house called Kismet. The more restrained Sharon and the less inhibited Judy both bemoan the meat-market aspects of singles life, while hard-nosed detective Mullens provides a grim view of the dangers of the dating scene as well. But when danger impinges on their sunny summer world as a result of the murder, the denizens of Fire Island have more than romance to worry about. Sharon's search for romance and her ramblings about the plight of single women evoke a sitcom, while Mullens's Brooklyn-ese makes him seem like a stock character. Sharon's endless soliloquizing about the travails of dating is unlikely to engage readers.