A Real Basket Case

The Hanovers have reached the stage where both kids are grown and out of the house. But unlike Claire’s anticipation of a time when she and her husband can concentrate on each other, she instead finds her husband focusing even more on his career and drive for success.

Her gift basket business gives her some measure of fulfillment but the lonely nights and the relatively empty days are leaving her discontent over their marriage.

A divorced friend suggests a mean nothing fling in order to get her out of the doldrums. She presses a free massage from their aerobics instructor Enrique to give Claire the opportunity to misbehave.

Claire’s wary acceptance of the massage is the beginning of a horrible situation. Masseur is gunned down in her bedroom just as he is getting hands on. Even worse, she looks up to see Roger holding the weapon.

Police think it is a crime of passion and that they have the killer in their hands, but Claire is convinced that her husband didn’t do it and she will do what it takes to find evidence to prove it.

Ms Groundwater has written an amateur sleuth mystery with a gutsy heroine. The situations that she manages to get herself into as she tries to uncover the truth will have readers chuckling, gasping, and turning the pages.

A genuine feeling portrayal of unhappiness regarding their marriage after Claire and Roger’s many years together made for an interesting opening theme to the story. However, some readers may not be so inclined towards the heroine’s embracing of blame regarding the fine mess that Roger is in and the guilt of potential unfaithfulness. She herself is unsure how the situation would have progressed had Enrique lived to complete his massage.

Descriptions of the toll that the situation is taking upon Roger are well done. The difficult circumstances and sense of loss are given an outlet in his appearance and attitudes. We do feel a bit distanced from this character though both for his apparent inclination to take his wife for granted and a mostly wooden performance throughout the story.

The investigation itself might not strike readers as very credible. On the other hand, we get to meet some interesting secondary characters like the gym ladies that the aerobics instructor was romancing for money, the drug dealer with a code of personal ethics whom he worked for, a jealous rival for the territory, and a jealous girlfriend. These each fall under the magnifying glass and the suspicions of Claire.

Readers will be kept guessing to the end in the best fashion of a good who-done-it.

April 2007