The Secret Desires of a Soccer Mom

May 1, 2006
Like an episode of Desperate Housewives
, this suburban murder mystery from Harding (follow-up to her well-received debut, The Journal of Mortifying Moments
) is predictable to a fault. Inspired by her friend Karen's hot affair with a Latin man, Colorado stay-at-home mom Paige Atwell attempts to "re-sexualize" her own passion-deficient 12-year-old marriage. But before she can step up her efforts, Karen is found dead in her garage. Suspecting Karen's death was no accident, Paige and her friends—a divorcée, a mistress-made-wife and a prude—turn their sights on Karen's husband, Doug. Weighed down by featherweight characters—Karen's paramour, Javier, of course, gets the full Latin lover treatment—Paige's narration leads the plot deep into camp territory: "Karen couldn't be dead, she just couldn't. She was too young, too pretty, too full of life.... And she lived in Aberdeen Mists, for Christ's sake. People did not just up and die in Aberdeen Mists!"