The Late, Lamented Molly Marx

In her second novel, Sally Koslow scores with this light yet serious look at life from the hereafter. Molly Marx, wife for seven years, mother for three, has died mysteriously in a bike wreck in New York City's Riverside Park. Did she take a nasty tumble in the big wind before the year's first thunderstorm? Did she kill herself after writing a long emotional letter for her daughter Annabel, not to be read until she grows up? Did her dermatologist husband's lover--pushy, ambitious Stephanie--grind her into the rocks either accidentally or on purpose? Or did sweet Luke, her photographer heartthrob totally lose it when she told him she had to break off their relationship? What happened the day Molly died is not the most important part of this book, instead it's the message to enjoy each day no matter how imperfect. How incredibly rich, sensual, interesting life looks when it's suddenly closed off to you.

Molly's voice, earnest, searching, and often riotously funny keeps you turning the pages. You learn about her family: her Mom and Dad, Claire and Daniel Divine, with their perfect marriage, one Molly aspires to but knows she can never achieve. Her twin, Lucy (Moosey), passionate and impetuous who careens through life, sometimes risking too much; Molly's husband, Barry, maddeningly flawed, but who perhaps cares for her more than Molly knows or even wants. Koslow also includes a cast of other interesting characters: the best friend, Brie, and Brie's Latin love, Isadora, her mother-in-law, brittle, ambitious, and totally impossible, Delfina, the incredibly kind nanny who holds their household together, and, finally, Hiawatha Hicks the detective assigned to her murder case. Molly loves fashion and food, both perhaps too much. Koslow spins fashion labels like a Vogue writer, but she has the empathy to really understand people and the connections among them. On one level you can read this book as a frothy take on a rich New Yorker's life; but on other level, it's an optimistic rendering of what it means to be human and confused, a state that lasts even after death. Other books where the deceased speak are The Lovely Bones and the much lighter That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo.