Valentine's Day Is Killing Me

The Barnes & Noble Review MaryJanice Davidson, Leslie Esdaile, and Susanna Carr tackle the tyranny of Valentine's Day expectations in this entertaining anthology of date-from-hell stories. In Davidson's story, a greeting card writer grudgingly accepts a blind date for Valentine's Day, only to have to spring her date from jail, where he was held for murder. In Leslie Esdaile's story, Jocyelyn Jefferson is throwing a "pamper party" for her best girlfriends so they can avoid the V-day slump. But come February 14th, most of her friends fink out -- and the pamperers are unbelievably rowdy, prompting the appearance of police detective Raymond Mayfield at her door with some tough questions. In Susanna Carr's story, Shanna Murphy determines to reverse a long tradition of bad Valentine's Days with some expert alternative plans, but her boss from hell intervenes, then is found dead -- and only Shanna's ex-boyfriend can keep her from becoming the prime suspect. Ginger Curwen