Honor Hartman, On the Slam

On the Slam

Honor Hartman

Signet, May 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 0451221400

It has been six months since Emma Diamond's husband died in an automobile accident; to escape the memories that are everywhere in the abode they shared, Emma moves to a house next door to her friend Sophie. One of the first people she meets in the upscale complex is the homeowners' association president Janet McGreevey, a virago who orders her not to let her cats roam loose on the streets and to keep her porch swing out of the front of her home. Emma takes an immediate dislike to the overbearing shrew. However, when Janet invites her and Sophie to come over to play bridge, the latter persuades the newcomer to go so as to get on the good side of the martinet.

While several people play bridge, Janet eats a spinach dip brought by Marylou Lockridge, who loathes the president also, but knows not to antagonize her as the mean-spirited woman will find a way to hurt anyone who doesn't treat her right. Janet suddenly keels over and dies from an allergic reaction to peanuts added to the spinach dip. Emma believes someone else added the peanuts during the evening festivities and she finds herself playing sleuth to find out who it is.

ON THE SLAM is the first book of what looks to be a terrific amateur sleuth series. Emma gains reader empathy from the onset as she struggles with grief while trying to move on with her life. Sophie, in many ways, steals the game, as a caring, supportive person who makes her friendship "contract" to help Emma cope. The storyline is well plotted and contains quite a few twists and tricks as Emma bids on who killed the despot.

Harriet Klausner