Joanne Pence. Courting Disaster (2004) 368 pp. [pbo]
Still between jobs, rich, beautiful and nervous Angie Amalfi is going crazy as she wonders where her engagement party is going to be held and what it will be like. She put the whole affair into her mother’s hands so that she can be in charge of creating her wedding. Her next door neighbor Stan is depressed because Angie is getting married to San Francisco homicide detective Paavo Smith while he failed to get past being a friend in her mind. At a Greek restaurant, Stan sees waitress Hannah and is immediately smitten. They get to know one another, but he quickly concludes that Hannah fears a waiter who happens to be the father of her unborn child. When Hannah goes into labor, Stan takes her to the hospital and after the baby is born he brings them into his home. When the father is killed, evidence points towards Hannah as the prime suspect, but others had a motive to murder the waiter. Stan, with Angie at his side, seeks the identity of the real culprit.

H.K.