About the Author

Ayelet Waldman currently lives with her writer-husband Michael Chabon and four children.

Reviews

Former federal prosecutor turned stay-at-home mom Waldman debuts with a humorous tale featuring a sleuth much like her creator. Juliet Applebaum gives up her job as a federal public defender to stay home with her small daughter, Ruby. Her screenwriter husband, Peter Wyeth, shares parenting duties. Juliet loves her family, but as she nears the end of her second pregnancy, she's restless, missing her job and worrying about her skills as a mother. Trouble starts when Juliet, Peter and Ruby attend an interview at the Heart's Song School, the most prestigious preschool in Los Angeles. The principal, Abigail Hathaway, doesn't seem impressed by either Ruby or her parents. Ruby doesn't get inÄnor does the daughter of a temperamental and violent studio head, Bruce LeCrone. When Hathaway dies in a hit-and-run outside the school, Juliet immediately suspects LeCrone. But LeCrone turns out to have a solid alibi, so Juliet shifts the focus of her sub-rosa investigation to the victim's real-estate developer husband and rebellious daughter. Juliet's nosing around helps the police zero in on a suspect, but when she realizes that she's misinterpreted a crucial piece of evidence, she foolishly jeopardizes her own life, and that of her unborn child, to bring the killer to justice. Juliet's voice is strong and appealing, and the Hollywood satire is dead on, but in future outings perhaps Waldman can avoid putting an otherwise intelligent heroine into a clich‚d, vulnerable-female-in-peril denouement. (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

L.A. public defender Juliet Applebaum quits her job to stay home with baby Ruby and her screenwriter hubby. A couple of years later, pregnant with number two and missing her job, Juliet investigates the hit-and-run murder of an exclusive nursery school's owner. Despite her impediments, she discovers several viable suspects, including an unfaithful third husband and a violently disgruntled film personage. Waldman, herself a former prosecutor turned stay-at-home mom, derives humorous mileage from Juliet's "epicurean" cravings, wardrobe dilemmas, night-owl husband, and obvious delight in adventure. First of a series for a new author; recommended. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.