Prescription coverage should include Elinor Lipman (The View from Penthouse B), surely an antidote to gloomy times. Laughing is therapeutic, and the chuckles keep coming in On Turpentine Lane, Lipman's 12th novel. Also an essayist and dedicated political tweeter (her 2012 election tweets were collected as Tweet Land of Liberty), Lipman writes with the comedic grace of Jane Austen and an ear for up-to-date dialogue and predicaments.
Faith Frankel, like Lipman's previous protagonists, has a sunny disposition, excusing her fiancé Stuart's walk across America (sponsored by Faith's credit card) in search of himself. She opts to overlook the many flaws in the "doll house" at 10 Turpentine Lane, a cozy fixer-upper she can swing on her salary as an assistant in a private school development office. Just as her suspicions about Stuart's on-the-road escapades are confirmed, a donor inadvertently casts doubt on Faith's honesty. Home-sweet-home is not a refuge, either: a photo album found in the attic suggests her bungalow has an unsavory history. Among a supporting cast are handsome co-worker Nick, Faith's very involved mother, a legally art-forging dad, and Stuart's multiple moms (it's complicated). Madcap developments include Stuart's self-serving return "without a scintilla of Faith-based anything," and Nick's adding housemate to office-mate status. Turmoil reigns when the photo album leads to a murder investigation and the (presumed deceased) original homeowner shows up in Faith's charming linoleum kitchen. Harrowing segues to hilarious, and Faith perseveres to a happily-ever-after. --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, manager, Book Passage, San Francisco