A DIET TO DIE FOR

by Joan Hess ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1989

Widow Claire Malloy, unflappable mother of teen-age Caron, is the Miss Marple of Farberville, according to police detective boyfriend Peter Rosen (Strangled Prose, etc.), and has now reluctantly hired Maribeth Galleston to work part-time in her bookstore--salary to be paid by neighbor Joanie Powell. For various reasons, Joanie feels it her duty to rescue Maribeth from a life of snacks, soap operas, and her arrogant, demoralizing husband Gerald, a lawyer who seems to be hanging around only because of the fortune his wife will inherit on her 30th birthday. Maribeth is persuaded to enroll in the town's new Ultima diet center, headed by smooth Dr. Sheldon Winder, his wife Candace, and receptionist Bobbi. All goes well at first--Maribeth loses weight and even begins a flirtation with exercise trainer Jody Delano--but before long there ate violent mood swings that eventually result in a fatal accident that puts Maribeth into a deep coma and Claire briefly into a hospital bed. Intrigued by the mystery of Maribeth's erratic behavior, to say nothing of odd goings-on at the diet center, Claire proceeds to do some clumsy sleuthing, finally coming up with answers that tie into a case of Peter's. Plotting that's contrived, disjointed, and essentially lifeless undermine the author's good-humored wit and unpretentious style. Harmless fun but less-than-the-best of Hess.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1989

Categories: FICTION