‘The Good Bride’ by Jen Marie Wiggins. Crooked Lane Books, 288 pages, $29.99
Ruth Bancroft wants to be “The Good Bride” — she really does — with just a simple beach wedding to her nice fiance Teo, as quiet a ceremony as possible with no drama. But that is unlikely to happen in “The Good Bride,” Jen Marie Wiggins’ entertaining debut.
But nature, her wealthy family and a sister who is a celebrity social media influencer seem conspired against her plans.
Last year, a hurricane left the town of Blue Compass, Georgia, in shambles. Most of the town is slowly rebuilding, as the residents’ finances allow. Only the Bancrofts can afford to hire extra workers.
Ruth’s sister, Sophia, never has a thought or an impromptu photo that doesn’t go on various social media platforms. Sophia is pressuring Ruth to make the wedding even bigger, saying the nuptials are the town’s salvation. In a way, she’s right. The over-the-top wedding gown and bridesmaids’ dresses may be the only way a young woman can keep her small boutique going.
Ruth’s history of being the “agreeable” daughter hasn’t let her stand up to Sophia nor to her mother, Caroline, whose entitled attitude is just naturally condescending.
Wiggins keeps the novel’s plot brisk as she skillfully weaves in stolen jewelry, a missing family member and investors descending as the wedding moves to a Panama City location.
The town’s rebuilding works as a metaphor as the Bancrofts try to pull their dysfunctional family together. As one character says, “This town … sometimes it’s like living in an arrested development.” She doesn’t mean that in a humorous way.
Short story collection
‘Every Day a Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim,’ edited by Josh Pachter. Level Best Books, 298 pages, $19.95
The late Stephen Sondheim is, arguably, the greatest composer of musical theater who ever lived. No, arguments are not accepted. He is the best. Period.
His story songs are the perfect fodder for this outstanding short story collection, “Every Day a Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim,” edited by Josh Pachter, who has put together other anthologies based on singers’ works.
For “Every Day a Little Death,” Pachter has assembled stories from 20 writers — some crime-fiction writers, others rooted in the theatrical world — using Sondheim’s lyrics as inspiration. These stories take vastly different approaches than the original songs, but the eclectic group of writers give a full view of Sondheim’s work.
The anthology is organized according to the decades in which the musicals were produced. Pachter includes the name of the musical in which the song appeared, and a list of the other tunes featured in that production. A handy bio of each author will have readers wanting to dive into their other works. And, of course, making plans to see the next Sondheim revival.
Crime writer Cheryl A. Head, whose novel “Time’s Undoing” made several Best Of lists and was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize, sets her “Brotherly Love,” from “Road Show,” in 1933. Here, a brother running a goldmine scheme bilking the elderly is confronted by his sibling, who insists he account for the shame and emotional pain this has brought their mother.
A finalist for several crime-writing awards, Gabriel Valjan chose “I Read” from “Passion” about a “ghost singer” whose voice is substituted for the name artist, and for whom books are a font of information — especially about bees.
Edgar Award-winning dramatist Joseph Goodrich chose “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” for his story, “No Place Like London,” in which a woman is caught in the supposed suicide of an estranged old friend who became a successful actor before being disgraced.
Raven-winning blogger Kristopher Zgorski (BOLO Books) sets “Losing My Mind,” from “Follies,” in hell — literally — as a living barista finds himself falling for one of the ghosts who frequent the coffee shop. The deceased man recounts a tragedy that occurred when he and others began fighting for gay rights before the Stonewall Riots, credited with launching the gay rights movement. Here, doing nothing when evil is committed is its own form of evil.
