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Us British sometimes forget that the United States has its own class issues. And these are given a front seat in Nancy Geary's REGRETS ONLY, set amidst the society folk of Philadelphia. Lucy O'Malley is new to the Philadelphia homicide department where she's been paired with easy-going veteran Jack Harper. Her love life is looking up when she finally agrees to start dating bar owner Archer Haverill, who, she later discovers, is heir to a fortune and who has been pursuing her for a while. But she gets entangled in some labyrinthine family disputes when Archer's estranged mother is found dead. And beneath the monied society, Lucy discovers that oodles of dosh cannot bring stability or happiness REGRETS ONLY is a smooth, polished tale focussing on mental health issues. But Geary has clearly done the research and puts it across without belting the reader over the head which is sometimes the risk in issues-based crime fiction. Lucy's a pleasant frontwoman, surrounded by her loving family and supportive colleagues. REGRETS ONLY stays this side of being sickly-sweet with no conflict between the good guys -- although you may take the view that for once it's good to read a book where there's no artificial tension there. Lucy, though, is refreshingly human and makes mistakes like the rest of us. One, though, is of huge proportions and it did leave me feeling she was let off rather lightly by her bosses afterwards. The only thing to spoil the book's flow is two clunking and intrusive point of view glitches about 50 pages from the end which left me feeling like I'd head-banged a brick wall. These aside, I found REGRETS ONLY to be an engaging and fluent read. If this is the first book in the series I'd like to see more from Geary, as she has plenty to build on with the characters she's introduced us to.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, August 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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