What Smiled at Him

What Smiled at Him is a mystery in which two childhood friends find every clue they need to solve a grisly double murder, but, for their own reasons, choose not to. "The novel has an angry edge to it, recalling the spirit of the Beats. Many of the peripheral characters speak like prophets... Marv and Lynn are just as self-aware as their supporting cast, and their abundance of wisdom sometimes stretches believability; it's tempered, however, by the flaw of their continually self-destructive behavior. Watching them ignore their better instincts... makes the characters more endearing." -Kirkus ReviewsLynn and Marv, now in their late twenties, are beginning to question the choices they've made. One is a struggling musician, the other a salesman. One night, far from home, alcohol, irresponsibility and coincidence reunite them with Caroline, the longtime object of their desires. Married into a wealthy Chicago family and unhappy, she begins an affair with Marv. A few weeks later, she's arrested and charged with murdering her husband and infant son. As her trial nears, the unwelcome mystery pursues the friends through their searches for love, stabs at success, self-destructive lapses and leads one of them to his death.