WANDERLUST

A madcap farce starring a globetrotting travel writer.

Kate Bogart is making halfhearted attempts to disentangle herself from the amorous clutches of a Portuguese bullfighter, according to her first e-mail to sympathetic chum Violet Morgan, who’s subletting Kate’s New York apartment and babysitting her overfed misanthropic cat, Truman Capote. Kate’s having a great time gathering material for her Wish You Were Here column—staying in five-star hotels at her employer’s expense is an ideal way to assuage the pain of her divorce from Jack MacTavish, a New Age type with a penchant for silly women and sillier adventures that involve getting in touch with his spiritual side. Jack gets invited to join a ménage à trois with his new girlfriend and her girlfriend, but can’t get it up for one or both of them, or so he confides to Kate. Will he ever leave her alone? Then there’s her mother, a regular attendee at the Holy Sisters of Perpetual Bingo, who’s definitely someone Kate would like to keep on the other side of the Atlantic. So many people to avoid—though not Miles Maxwell, sexy on-the-go war reporter. He’s going to write Kate’s column for a while—and he’s hellishly attractive in an unavailable sort of way (he’s trying to make one last go of it with his longtime love Odette). Well, Kate is willing to wait and she’s off to California anyway, since her boss Ted Concannon just got ousted by his wife’s lesbian lover. Is there anything Kate can do? Sure. Let 60ish Ted move into her New York apartment—he can even date her mother. Things heat up with Miles Maxwell in his loft on the Thames, where a standoff with the evil Odette also ensues. No harm done, as Odette eventually winds up with silly Jack. Even the heretofore worthless Truman Capote sires a litter with the sweet kitty down the hall.

Breezy-romp-like first novel.