Dell Publishing (paperback), ISBN 0-440-22614-7
Like Carrie Carlin needs another distraction in her life. When she's not rounding up the carpool or de-stressing the panicked and pained of New York via biofeedback, she's thwarting the wedding-bell beggings of her badged beloved. But fate and good old-fashioned curiosity always toss her aura-first into murder. 

When Helena Forester turns up dead via bicyclist, Carrie breathes a great big sigh of relief. Finally, a murder she isn't biorhythm deep in. She can sit back and focus on the important things in life, like her daughter Allie's operatic debut at the community theatre, and warding off police Lieutenant Ted Brodsky's matrimonial impulses. But, just like that unlucky proverbial cat, Carrie's curiosity and threats against a friend who witnessed the "accident," yank her right into the thick of it. 

Now that same curiosity threatens to kill more than its typical feline victim, as chalked threats and throwing stars land at Carrie's feet. A simple bike vs. pedestrian accident becomes a tangled silken web of Asian mob intrigue, white slavery sex clubs and a 16-year-old suicide that may have made a young woman into a cold-blooded killer.  

Nancy Tesler navigates the reader through the complex tangle of Forester's murder and Carrie's subsequent investigation with a remarkable ease. At the same time, Tesler leaves the reader guessing about the identity of the person responsible for the mayhem infecting Carrie's normal, suburban New York life almost to the bitter end. The tension Tesler builds between the commitment-seeking Ted and the attachment-phobic Carrie rises up off the pages to make even the reader feel Carrie's post-divorce suffocation. 

Will Carrie succumb to the lovable lieutenant's charms or will Ted have to cuff 'n' drag Carrie into a deeper commitment? 

Will Allie get to tackle The Mikado's Yum-Yum and her delicious co-star, or will she have to settle for a supporting role? 

Will the starry-eyed assassin get his or her "point" across before Carrie can manage the unmasking? 

For the answer to these questions and one hell of a page-turner, tune into Shooting Stars and Other Deadly Things by Nancy Tesler. But watch out for flying objects. 

Diana L. Marsh

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