Barbing her trademark insight with humor, the multi-talented Viorst, known for her verse ( It's Hard to Be Hip Over Thirty and Other Atrocities of Married Life ), children's books ( Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day ) and nonfiction ( Necessary Losses ), hits another bull's-eye with this mystery, subtitled ``A Merry Little Tale of Sex and Violence.'' Syndicated advice columnist Brenda Kovner, recently turned 46, is also a wife (of pediatric surgeon Jake), mother (of entrepreneur Jeff and social worker Wally) and sister (of many-careered Rosalie), who lives in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Optimistic, positive and with a characteristic ``can-do'' attitude that she applies to all problems--not just her own--Brenda decides that only murder will end the dangers imposed on her family by Joseph Monti in his zeal to break the engagement between his daughter and her son Wally. Though not the ``murdering kind,'' Brenda decides that homicide is possible for her, a woman who, in an effort to learn what sex would be like with someone other than her husband, recently executed a plan to sleep with three different men in 24 hours. More compelling than the details of Brenda's murder arrangements are the gradually, and expertly, revealed circumstances surrounding her liaisons and their repercussions. Brenda's determined cheerfulness and constant interference may bring murder to the minds of many in Viorst's sharply limned cast, but readers, laughing their way to the last page, will be glad to have made this Mom's acquaintance. Author tour. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Viorst has done it again. The author of such gems as How Did I Get To Be Forty and Other Atrocities ( LJ 11/15/76) and Yes, Married (S. & S., 1972) has created a funny, adult novel about murder and motherhood. Our heroine is Brenda Kovner, a middle-aged advice columnist whose overwhelming desire for control drives her family crazy. Her dedicated mothering leads her to plot the death of Mr. Monti, her son's future father-in-law--and, by the way, one of the three men Brenda slept with in a 24-hour quest to broaden her horizons. Her attempts at murder are hilarious, and readers may actually root for her to succeed. Highly recommended; demand should be intensified by a national ad campaign and author publicity tour.-- Kathy Ingels Helmond, formerly with Indiana Univ.-Purdue Univ. at Indianapolis Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Columnist and children's book author Viorst infuses her premiere adult novel with the quicksilver pace, naughty optimism, and heartwarming humor of her bestselling nonfiction (Necessary Losses, 1986, etc.). The novel's premise is wacky: Brenda Kovner, the narrator, 46- -an accomplished hostess, gourmet cook, devoted wife of Jake, a pediatric surgeon, mother of their two grown sons, Jeff and Wally, and a wildly popular nationally syndicated advice columnist- -resolves to murder a somewhat sinister D.C. neighbor named Mr. Monti, who is ``doing harm to my family.'' The reason he's doing harm: His adored youngest daughter Josephine wants to marry Wally, who refuses to convert from Judaism to Catholicism for the occasion. The harm he's doing: As Brenda doggedly discovers, he's been bankrolling a number of baseless malpractice suits against Jake, is laying a plan to entrap greedy elder son Jeff in a bogus real-estate deal for the purpose of bankrupting him, and seems to be planning to have Wally killed on Halloween. Brenda--who's had sex with Mr. Monti once as the third stage of a one-day experiment in the pleasures of adultery after a lifetime if monogamy--first tries to poison him, then nails him (or rather, by mistake, his twin brother) into an airtight closet, and finally hires two muggers she's met while investigating Jeff's real-estate troubles to assassinate him. Nothing works--luckily for Brenda, since it turns out that (a) a psychotic social-work client is the one who's really been trying to kill Wally, and (b) Mr. Monti's wife controls all the family's assets and has no intention of letting Mr. Monti waste them on tormenting the Kovners. Finally, Wally and Josephine- -who's gone through a lesbian phase--marry; Brenda and Jake, whose marriage has been rocky, to say the least, reunite. Facile, funny--Viorst at her best.

Like the title, Viorst's smart, sassy comedy of manners relies heavily on m words: murder plots, matrimonial plans, midlife crises, mortgage loans, mother love, and malpractice suits. Brenda Kovner--wife of Washington, D.C., pediatric surgeon Jake, mother of real estate speculator Jeff and social work grad student Wally (her favorite), developer (in response to Jake's past infidelity) of a successful syndicated advice column--needs to kill Mr. Monti, the overbearing father of Wally's beloved Josephine, because he's destroying her family. The fact that Monti is one of the three men (satisfying a total of eight criteria) with whom Brenda violated her marriage vows on March 18 in a concentrated burst of adultery designed to prepare her for her 46th birthday slightly complicates matters. Other complications include young Josephine's rather erratic search for her true self, visits with Brenda's older sister Rose and her rambunctious Great Dane Hubert, the reappearance of Jake's erstwhile lover Sunny Voight, and interventions--both positive and negative--by Anacostia gangbangers Billy and Elton Jr. Researching murder methods by watching old movies on her VCR, and juggling dizzy spells and disguises, Brenda brings her "merry little tale" to a satisfying conclusion. ~--Mary Carroll