Beverly Brandt Match Game

Match Game

Beverly Brandt

Berkley, Oct 2005, $14.00

ISBN: 0425205533

In Maple Rapids, Michigan, thirty-one year old CPA, Savannah Taylor looks forward to marrying reliable bottom line Todd, while working with walk in clients who come to Refund City, a national accounting firm that focuses on completing tax returns. On Valentine's Day, Reverend Black begins the wedding ceremony, only to be interrupted by three FBI agents. Instead of a wedding ring, Savannah receives handcuffs, as the Feds arrest her for tax evasion and money laundering.

Savannah proves to the Feds that she is innocent as someone obviously stole her identity. The rat Todd dumps her anyway because he feels she is not worth the time or trouble. Irate Savannah decides to change her image, starting with confronting the person who caused her mess but also saved her from a death sentence with the brat rat. She heads to Naples, Florida, where the purchases on her credit cards are posted from. Of course meeting US Air Marshal Mike Bryson seems worth reengineering herself.

MATCH GAME is a fine contemporary tale in which the tiny romantic subplot takes a back seat to Savannah's coming of age quest to find herself, and the thief. Readers will shake their heads at Todd's chutzpah, as he breaks the engagement because he went through too much with her arrest, but still expects Savannah to do his taxes. Savannah is terrific as she tries to reinvent herself by quitting her job and seeking the thief, while her family worry about her. The identity theft subplot, augments a solid tale, by showing how easy it is to steal and how much trouble swamps the victim. Beverly Brandt provides a fine mainstream story.