Beautiful Criminals

Amanda Cooper, the heroine of Tipton and Rosenblum’s lively if flawed debut, tries to rebuild her life and her relationship with her teenage daughter after serving a two-year sentence as a convicted con artist. In an attempt to break the cycle of crime, Amanda tries to play by the rules, but is forced back into illegal activity by her parole officer and her employer at Markdown, the discount store in L.A. where she works to make an honest living. Meanwhile, she must contend with a corrupt FBI officer looking to get dirt on her family, as well as with her former fiancé, who’s seeking revenge after Amanda conned him out of $250,000. Amanda is also visited on many occasions by the hallucinated ghost of the late Carrie Fisher, and she partakes in AA meetings, even though she doesn’t have a drinking problem. Some readers will relate to the quirky Amanda, but others may grow tired of the pop-culture references and find the abrupt happily-ever-after ending unsatisfying. [em]Agent: Lanie Davis, Alloy Entertainment Group. (Aug.) [/em]