Dear Great Book Guru, I’m sitting on my porch this evening looking out over my neighbor’s beautiful garden (really…who needs a water view) finishing up a great book you recommended a few weeks ago - Robert Baird’s THE NIMBUS, but as always, I’m looking for my next read - a psychological mystery if possible.  Lover of Porches

Dear Lover of Porches, I have the perfect book for you - Megan Abbot’s latest: EL DORADO DRIVE. The streets in mythical El Dorado were paved with gold and the residents of this Detroit suburb where the novel is set saw their golden lives destroyed when the American car industry crashed in the early 2000’s.  Highly paid executives, lawyers, and engineers found their careers abruptly ended and their fortunes decimated. Families had to adjust to the new reality, and the women of El Dorado Drive join together to find a way out of this financial abyss…or so they think. The story focuses on the Bishop sisters - Pam, Debra, and Harper – and their involvement with the Wheel - a play on the collapsing auto industry. But the Wheel is basically a pyramid scheme. The sisters and their friends pledge $5000 each with a “gift” to be bestowed on a lucky woman each week. Of course, this works only as new members can be found. Starting out as women supporting women during hard times, the plan quickly deteriorates into a “Lord of the Flies” scenario. As we learn the stories of these desperate women, our sympathy grows even though we know there are no streets of gold in their futures - highly recommended!