September 1, 2005
Amanda, a beautiful young Florida defense attorney, receives puzzling news from her ex-husband, Ben--her mother has shot and killed a stranger in the lobby of Toronto's Four Seasons Hotel. Although long estranged from her mother and embittered over a loveless childhood, Amanda flies to Toronto. Ben, also a lawyer and serving as her mother's counsel, informs Amanda that her mother has confessed to the murder but refuses to reveal her motive. Amanda then tracks down the victim's sister, who tells Amanda that the murdered man stole her real brother's identity 20 years ago. Amanda doggedly and testily pursues the truth, which emerges through Chinatown-like revelations of incest and shocking blood ties among the victim's widow, Amanda, and her mother. A crisp reading by Broadway and television actress Laura Hicks provides energy to a somewhat ponderous plot, which might benefit from abridgment. Recommended for fiction collections that expect healthy circulation of Fielding's novels. --Judith Robinson, Univ. at Buffalo, NY
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