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If you can get by the hideous cover art, you'll definitely be engrossed by the tales of a battered women's support group in suburban Buffalo, New York. Fran Tremayne Kirk is one of the battered women who meet weekly to discuss the status of their relationships with their abusive spouses. Fran's violent, alcoholic husband, Dick, violates a restraining order and first leaves obscene messages on her answering machine and then attacks her as she's trying to take her dog to the vet. The attack scene is almost unbearably tense, as Dick grabs a shovel from the garage and hits her windshield and then the passenger window. Fran peels away from the scene and leaves Dick lying in the street. After she goes to the local police precinct, a sergeant, who had persuaded her to buy a .38 for her own protection, arrives to tell her that Dick is dead. Somewhat strangely, Fran becomes irate that no one tried to help himss, even though he had made her life a living hell. The support group is led by the very down-to-earth motherly Polly, who recommends that Fran get a job. She answers an ad for a "Gal Friday" and is hired by Billy Lightfoot on the strength of her pleasant voice. Billy also remembers Fran from her days as Dick's assistant in Dick's p.i. business. In truth, Fran did most of the work, because Dick was drunk most of the time. Billy's enterprise is somewhat questionable. There are three phones: one is for Billy's Dating Service, one is for a catalogue offering vaguely pornographic items, and the third is for "Probabilities," Billy's bookie operation. On her first day, Fran and Myrtle, a beautician, overhear sounds in the downstairs beauty salon, as its owner Sammy Plata is being robbed. A few nights later, Sammy's body is found in the salon. The head of the division of the insurance company that will have to pay on Sammy's life insurance policy enlists Fran to investigate the murder. (She has done business with Billy before and doesn't trust the quality of his work.) Fran's investigation takes her to Sammy's widow, who is having an affair with Billy and is pregnant with his child, to Sammy's mob-connected family, and to the home of a very diverse and largely amiable group of women who work for Billy's dating service. A second murder takes place in the group's home. Furie interweaves the heartbreaking tales of women who believe "he won't do it again" with Fran's efforts to find Sammy's killer and even with touches of humor. When she's reporting the robbery to a police dispatcher, Fran says, "There I was, terrified, and the crazy thought crossed my mind that I sounded like a commentator whispering at a golf match." Furie mixes and matches her characters -- the group from the beauty salon, the women in Billy's dating service, the Plata family -- in a very intriguing plot that will leave you surprised at the end and possibly a bit incredulous at the clue that makes Fran realize who the murderer is.
Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Devine, September 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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