House on Olive Street

When novelist Gabby Marshall dies, she leaves a letter asking her four closest friends, all writers, to organize her literary remains. In the process, they take refuge from their own lives in Gabby's cozy home in Sacramento, Calif. Unsentimental spinster Elly fears her highbrow friends won't accept her suitor, Ben, a loving but unsophisticated farmer. Bestselling Sable escapes the sudden exposure of her tarnished past; Beth is leaving an abusive husband; Barbara Ann is running away from a home full of slovenly men. Introductory chapters are slow, but once the protagonists move into their ""halfway house for insane women"" the book comes to life. The women's feisty, bluntly honest exchanges ring with credibility and charm; the minor characters that eddy around them--Barbara Ann's lovably clueless husband; Ceola, the late Gabby's pistol-toting mom--are drawn with deftness and affection. Though conventional in outline, Carr (Mind Tryst) offers a well-written, warm-hearted story and a genuinely fun read. (Dec.)