THE BOOK FAIR

Review:

Lisa Smith’s novel opens in 1962, in a small town in Florida, with the pretense of Jack Morgan’s suicide.  After Charlotte Morgan, Jack’s daughter, recovers from the shock of her father’s untimely death, she must also face the reality of losing her opulent lifestyle, as her supposedly wealthy father, provided none of the expected inheritance for her and her sister, Amelia.   

Charlotte Morgan refuses to believe that her father committed suicide, and her step mother, Petal’s, refusal for Charlotte to investigate his death fuels her suspicion.

After his meeting with Charlotte Morgan, Raul Francesco, a young, handsome junior attorney representing Charlotte’s stepmother, promises to help Charlotte learn the truth of both her father’s death and of her lost inheritance.  As Charlotte and Raul begin to investigate Jack Morgan, Charlotte quickly discovers her father was not the man she thought him to be.

The mystery novel turns into a detective story running parallel with a sizzling, hot romance full of quick wit and easy banter.   The book moves back and forth in time from sunny, Palm Beach, Florida, in the 1960’s to Paris, France, under German occupation.

 

In the 1940’s, Paris, Alan Fiztpatrick saves the life of Nicole Strauss, a beautiful, young Jewish woman with whom he falls in love.  A poor, womanizing con-artist turned art dealer, Alan tries desperately to save his family from the Nazis.

 

The author’s style of allowing the reader more information than Charlotte, as she investigates her father’s life, adds dimension to the plot.  The story unfolds from the perspectives of Jack and Charlotte, takes many unexpected twists and turns, and addresses different forms of discrimination.  The epilogue of “Exceeding Expectations,” moves into the prologue of Smith’s next novel, “Paradise Misplaced.”