Just For The Summer - Softcover

Van Wormer, Laura

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1551664399 ISBN 13: 9781551664392

Publisher: Mira, 1998

Synopsis

Mary Liz Scott, a former investment banker, agrees to help her godmother, the widow of Hollywood producer Alfred Hoffman, inventory his estate, only to realize that the information she has uncovered is responsible for a murder. Reprint.

About this title

Review

Who knew the Hamptons was such a hotbed of murder and corruption? In Laura Van Wormer's Just for the Summer, a favor for an old friend turns into a phantasmagoria of sex, money, and death. The protagonist in this tale of murder-most-financial is Mary Liz Scott, a gorgeous 32-year-old investment banker who comes to Long Island to help her godmother go through some financial records belonging to Mary Liz's late godfather. Faster than you can say "junk bond," Mary Liz encounters Julius, Claude, Buck, Charles, Randolph, and a host of other unsavory Hamptonites--all suspects in the death of a shady financier.

Just for the Summer is aptly named, in that it is ideal reading for anyone slightly stunned by too much fun in the sun. Neither the story, the characters, nor the mystery itself will prove too taxing, but certainly Van Wormer's tale of sex, death, and money among Long Island's upper crust will provide hours of breezy entertainment for those long summer days.

From Kirkus Reviews

Van Wormer (Jury Duty, 1996, etc.), apparently an insider herself, has the glamorama Hamptons scene down to a T; the real- life celebrities and loosely veiled characters (a Barbara Streisandlike diva, a Donna Karanesque designer, etc.) that fill up the cast here make for a complicated romance/mystery as voyeuristic as it is fun. When Mary Liz Scott retires from investment banking at the tender age of 33, she's ready--for the first time in her life--to relax. She assumes that her godmother Nancy Hoffman's request that Mary Liz head out to East Hampton to help her organize her late husband's estate will provide plenty of opportunities for taking it easy. But Alfred Hoffman's death may not have been an accident, and his peculiar will has the wealthy circles on Long Island abuzz. After just a few days, Mary Liz's office is broken into. Alfred's son Bertie and stepson Julius appear to know far more than they're telling. And even Nancy may have some tricks up her sleeve. Mary Liz's only respite from the madness--Nancy, a charity queen, has her attending functions practically every night--is the young, handsome Sky, a summer golf pro. But in Van Wormer's vision of the Hamptons, people are never what they seem, not even Mary Liz, who immediately installs an alarm system, secures access to Alfred's vaults, and keeps a sharp eye on everyone she meets. When Herbert Glidden (who's suing Nancy for Alfred's estate) dies, Mary Liz realizes that she's truly at risk and enters a race against time to uncover the secrets, solve the murders, and sort out the finances and dirty deals. Like reading the juiciest People magazine possible, with a convoluted yet engrossing plot and a genuine flow of suspense. (First printing of 50,000; author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mira
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1551664399
• ISBN 13: 9781551664392
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 474