The Secret Desires of a Soccer Mom

"I felt fairly confident that I would take this information to my grave--even though it was the juiciest thing to happen in Aberdeen Mists in about eight years."Paige Atwell appears to have a fulfilling life in the cozy community of Aberdeen Mists--a nice house, a great husband, and two young kids. But behind the facade of neighborhood coffee klatches and carpools, Paige is growing restless with her increasingly busy spouse, the early onset of her ten-year-old daughter's teenage hostility, and her young son's alarming preoccupation with bodily functions.When her friend and neighbor, Karen, looking even more vibrant and gorgeous than usual, confesses to a passionate affair with a sizzling Latin lover, Paige assesses her own state of domestic ecstasy: not good. But Paige's attempts to "re-sexualize" her marriage produce comically calamitous consequences.Just when Paige begins to wonder whether an extramarital remedy may be the key to happiness, Karen is found dead in her garage, lying in a pool of blood. The residents of Aberdeen Mists may be satisfied with the freak accident theory--that Karen fell and hit her head on a metal toolbox--but Paige knows the adulterous secret that could blow the closed case wide open.With sleuthing skills acquired from her favorite TV crime dramas, Paige vows to find out the truth. Her list of potential perps (that's what Law & Order calls them, right?) includes Karen's aggrieved husband, Doug, and sexy Spanish lothario Javier. As Paige's Miss Marple--esque adventure winds through her allegedly quiet enclave to the boundaries of her own fidelity, what she uncovers may prove more shocking than she ever imagined.In this outrageously entertaining gem, Robyn Harding shines a light on the plight of suburban housewives--the sacrifices, the secrets, and the desperate lengths they'll go to to keep up appearances. With a sharp wit and a delightfully unpredictable story line, Harding's darkly funny novel examines whether the grass really is greener on the other side of the white picket fence . . . or if it's just a good place to bury a body.From the Hardcover edition.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.