Publishers Weekly called Charles Cohen s Daddy

"funny, generous and witty", and his Silver Lin-

ings, "pointed and telling, quick and comic."

With this latest novel, Charles Cohen continues to

fasten his wry and witty eye on the chilling

goings-on in a once tranquil Chicago suburb.

It begins on a hot summer night, while the kids

are away at school. Elizabeth, a woman who be-

lieves in the punishment fitting the crime, shoots

husband Marty while he is kneeling for for-

giveness--after she discovers him in flagrante

dilicto with her mother. Next Frank, meticulous

accountant, chokes to death on an out-sized chunk

of meat in full and knowing view of his "meek"

spouse Frann. Then Dave, the friendly banker,

wakes up one night and mysteriously throws him-

self through a picture window at the apparition of

his long dead and despised father--where was his

wife Jane? Events on Apple Tree Lane are spiral-

ing out of control, and the only man left on the

block is Jack, a mild-mannered ,allergist who sen-

sibly chose his specialty because he could not

stand the sight of blood.

In the wash of the untimely deaths, Jack s wife

Barbara, for years in search of a field for her

psychology degree, becomes distant from him

and proportionately closer to the bereaved wives,

giving "aid and counsel." And Jack, almost

beyond his belief, finds himself the object of a

sustained, building campaign to terminate

him...