Survival Instincts

No sex. No noshing. No bills. What else can a fortysomething nonpracticing lawyer expect when she moves back in with her mom? For Nina Fischman, things could be worse. At least Nina is out of L.A. and back in New York, where there's always something exciting to do - like go to the funeral of an ex-boyfriend in Park Slope. By the time Nina and her mother, Ida, get to the dead man's brownstone, the funeral has turned into the Roz Brillstein show. It's hard to believe that Roz, flamboyant, artsy, and sexually accomplished, was ever married to stolid Andy Campbell, a hardworking research scientist who died by ingesting poison. Andy had been doing experiments on guinea pigs - in search of a herpes vaccine - when he was murdered. Roz, whose history of extramarital activities soon has Nina in awe, is hardly grieving-widow material. But who killed Andy? Nina and Mama Ida collect suspects the way some women pick out shoes - after all, suspicion is a natural Fischman gift. But quickly their uninvited investigation leads them to an animal rights organization called SPASM, headed by a man of unbearably good looks, and an odd real estate deal between Andy Campbell and Nina's brother-in-law, the dermatologist. With a running dialogue between Nina, her newly liberated sister, and her ever-resourceful mother, the Fischman women are soon hot on the killer's trail. You can say this much about an untimely death: it can give a girl a life.


Genre: Mystery