“I wondered about what wires had been crossed or never connected to turn a mother into a monster” … news coverage of a toddler murdered by his mother has Carmen Beckwith musing over her own feelings about motherhood as she prepares for a trip with her enigmatic co-worker, Daley Gray, to attend a career fair at the University of California in Santa Barbara. 

When Carmen discovers that the intensely private Daley is also a mother and has a son who attends college in Santa Barbara, it is the first step toward peeling away the layers of Daley’s somewhat mysterious life.  But the mystery only deepens when they are waiting to meet Daley’s son and a friend for dinner and after receiving a telephone call, Daley’s usually composed and in control demeanor evaporates in minutes.  When her son and his friend are later implicated and arrested for the murder of a troublesome and troubled classmate, Daley is immobilized by shock and worry and Carmen is determined to help.

Carmen sets out to learn more about the murdered girl and uncovers both sad and unsavory details about her background and identifies a number of people who had reason to dislike her, possibly enough to kill her.  With an almost Shakespearean ending, Carmen accidently encounters the truth that reveals that she is not the only one to make wrong assumptions.

What is a nice lady like Carmen Beckwith doing in a jam like this … an absentee husband married to his job, a demanding boss who intimidates everyone around him, meddling in-laws who rearrange her house, two precocious sons and a new neighbor who keeps her intrigued on lonely nights. 

But then events take an unexpected turn and present Carmen with new challenges that she faces with determination and a sense of humor as the dot com phenomenon unfolds around her.  The story takes place at the beginning of the new millennium in legendary Silicon Valley and is populated with characters who are recognizable as people we all think we know but keep the tissues handy, women and men have been moved to tears by this poignant tale.

There is no frigate like a book

To take us lands away,

Nor any coursers like a page

Of prancing poetry.

This traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of toll

How frugal is the chariot

That bears a human soul!

 Emily Dickenson