Leigh Riker, Change of Life

Change of Life

Leigh Riker

Harlequin Next, Dec 2006, $5.50

ISBN: 0373881223

In Florida interior designer Nora Pride is stunned to learn that she will become a grandma soon as she feels too young to have a child with a child; she is not even fifty yet. Her business has been in the decline because of the mess left by hurricanes as most people are concerned with cleanup not modification. Finally, her long-time rival Starr Mulligan is stealing her clients with no regard to ethics.

Her reputation falls apart next when she becomes the prime suspect in the theft of a valuable vase from a home she designed. More of her clients who somehow know she is a person of interest are dropping her for Starr. On the positive side, Police Detective Calvin Caine seems interested in her and not just to arrest her, though handcuffs with the gruff cop might be fun. First comes proving her innocence, which finds her in Calvin's circle more and more.

This is an interesting police procedural romance starring a fascinating middle age protagonist struggling with the aftermath of hurricanes hurting her business. The storyline is interesting when Nora, proud of what she has accomplished, concentrates on saving her business; the investigation is also fun to follow with its sidebar romance as is becoming a granny, but those subplots take time away from the saving the business and contain too many key characters. Still CHANGE OF LIFE is an appealing glimpse at a fiftyish female entrepreneur.

Harriet Klausner