Barbara Mikulski and Marylouise Oates
Eleanor "Norie" Gorzack, the heroine of Barbara Mikulski's first novel, is a lot like the Maryland senator herself: feisty, Polish-American, with a soft spot for liberal causes. Unlike Mikulski, however, Gorzack is the wife of a Marine pilot declared missing in action during the Vietnam War. On Gorzack's first day in office, a Vietnam veteran is killed on his way to talk to her; a few weeks later one of her aides is murdered. Appointed to a select committee on MIAs, Gorzack seeks both to solve the murders and bring home the remains of some American servicemen. The premise could have made for an interesting mystery, but it falls flat in the hands of Mikulski and her friend Marylouise Oates, a former society writer for the Los Angeles Times. The coauthors clog the book with civics lessons on lobbyists and Senate protocol. Mikulski's inside perspective on Senate politics can't rescue her novel from its wooden dialogue and plodding pace. (Dutton, $23.95)
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