cover image An Inconvenient Woman

An Inconvenient Woman

Stéphanie Buelens. Scarlet, $25.95 (288p) ISBN 978-1-61316-190-6

French teacher Claire Fontaine, the unhinged protagonist of Buelens’s pedestrian debut, is convinced that her ex-husband, Simon Miller, a wealthy Beverly Hills lawyer, molested Melody, her daughter by her late first husband, driving the teenager to suicide. Simon claims Melody’s drowning death was an accident. Claire has now made it her mission to stop his upcoming wedding to Charlotte. Claire believes that Simon really is after Charlotte’s daughter, Emma, who’s about the same age as Melody when he first molested the girl. Claire considers more extreme actions after she has no success confronting Simon over the phone or persuading Charlotte, whom she confronts at the jewelry store where Charlotte works, to keep Emma away from Simon. Frustrated by Claire’s antics, Simon hires “sin eater” Sloane Wilson, a former LAPD detective who specializes in cleaning up situations best handled outside the law. A couple of clever twists near the denouement make up only in part for Claire’s wearisome paranoia and characters who elicit little sympathy. Psychological thrillers fans can safely take a pass. (Sept.)