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Chick Lit Meets Tea Cozy In Murder Mystery

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BY K. SUE COLLINS

Published: December 30, 2007

"Extracurricular Activities," by Maggie Barbieri (St. Martin's Minotaur, $24)

Preparing for your best friend's wedding can be murder. So can finding your philandering ex-husband dead with his hands missing in your kitchen.

English Professor Alison Bergeron suffers no shortage of entanglements in Maggie Barbieri's "Extracurricular Activities."

Just when Alison thinks she is free of her ex-husband, Ray, he manages to get himself murdered. Suspects are plenty as Alison is drawn deeper into his murder investigation.

Which one of his conquests could be responsible for his death? Could it be his student who wants a certain taped performance back? Is it Alison's next-door neighbor? Maybe it is the mobster who is enamored of Alison?

Add to her stresses her intense feelings for separated, yet still married, police Detective Bobby Crawford.

"Extracurricular Activities" is the follow-up to Barbieri's "Murder 101," complete with a quirky cast. Alison's two best friends are the polar opposites of one another. One is a free-spirited soul about to marry Crawford's partner; the other is a priest.

Barbieri splits the novel's narrative between Alison's first-person and third-person narration when following Crawford's investigation.

Bergeron's romantic trials and fashion sense are comparable to Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski minus the P.I. license. This makes for a breezy quick read for the holiday season. "Extracurricular Activities" will find a home with readers of chick lit and cozy mysteries alike.

K. Sue Collins of Tampa is a crime novelist.

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