The Bride Will Keep Her Name-Jan Goldstein

The Bride Will Keep Her Name
Jan Goldstein
Shaye Areheart (Crown), Jun 16 2009, $24.00
ISBN: 9780307345929

Still in her twenties, Manhattan’s Peter Hoyt Gallery manager Madison Mandelbaum feels she is living the American dream as she is marrying the man she loves expatriate Englishman NBC investigative reporter Colin Darcy in one week. However, she begins receiving odd emails, phone calls and text messages from an unknown person claiming her fiancé is not the likable caring person he portrays. At first Maddie ignored the comments as junk, but begins to reconsider because the sender seems to know Colin intimately.

Each implies that Colin killed twenty-five year old aspiring artist Rebecca Farris, an employee of Elite Escorts. As she prepares for the wedding, Madison confronts Colin, who insists he had nothing to do with the homicide of the call girl. Concerned she might be marrying a tyro Jack the Ripper, Madison begins making inquires that lead to her catching her beloved in a major lie. She digs deeper with an obsession to know the truth before she says I do.

Though a contemporary amateur sleuth, this fun over the top of Citi Field is a throwback to the 1930s madcap comedies; in fact readers will envision Hepburn-Grant starring in this screwball tale. The frantic-paced story line is driven by Madison whose mantra imprinted in her by her mom over the years is “Be careful what you wish for”. Fans will relish her frenzy as she prepares for marriage while investigating her future husband.

Harriet Klausner