In the course of this wide-ranging, richly detailed novel, every kind of human problem finds its way to the doorstep of Quee Purdy, a tireless entrepreneur for whom love and sex are the "hot commodities" in which she deals. McCorkle's extraordinary storytelling skills allow her to juggle at least six parallel stories in a novel about playing God. And she does it divinely. Jill McCorkle entered the publishing world with a splash, sending her first two books to the press simultaneously. Her latest work, Carolina Moon , revolves around a circle of folks united not so much by their knowledge of one another but by a certain kindred spirit. The setting, as in McCorkle's earlier book July 7th , is a small North Carolina town. There, the charismatic widow Quee Purdy intercedes in the lives of a number of young couples, creating several mysteries, the details of which are disclosed from varying points of view. YA. Quee Mary Stutts Purdy, cake decorator, seamstress, masseuse, and therapist, opens a no-smoking clinic as well as her heart to the inhabitants of Fulton, NC. Her clients and her staff have more problems than just nicotine addiction. Denny, Quee's goddaughter, leaves a boring husband whose lot in academic life is researching writers with allergies. Her exit is quite public and self-fulfilling. Aliola is the wife of Jones Jameson, the town's sickening radio personality and habitual womanizer. Missing for several days, he is found in a neighbor's garden?dead. Tom, the helpful hired hand, is trying to deal with his past while contemplating a romance with Denny. These and other characters are lively and lead the way through this novel of humor, mystery, and the hazards of the heart. Readers are drawn into the story by soon-to-be retired postal worker Wallace Johnson. He has collected 25 years worth of letters surrounding the suicide of Tom's father. The story connects the townsfolk's personalities, secrets, and misunderstandings. Absorbing and entertaining?much like the characters whose lives are touched by Quee Pur-Day.?Connie Freeman, Alen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. What has happened to Jones Jameson, the DJ who is the Howard Stern of Fulton, North Carolina's local radio station? Why does Tom Lowe, the town handyman who lives with his herd of stray dogs in a camper on his property in the middle of Fulton's newest upper-class suburb, drive out to the beach every day at low tide? And who wrote the mysterious letters addressed to "Wayward One" that Fulton post-master Wallace Johnson reads passionately as if they were addressed to him? At the center of these mysteries is Quee Purdy, the proprieter of the town's newest smoking clinic, Smoke-Signals, whose motto is "Put out your butt and bring your butt in." Indeed, Quee is like a spider at the center of her web who has wrapped each character in the silken threads that she has cast out. The New South of Wal-Marts and shopping malls meets the Old South of haunted longings for family order and property in McCorkle's rollicking tale of love, sex, and addiction in a small Southern town. The razor-sharp humorous portrayal of the disintegration of a small town is reminiscent of McCorkle's best early work like July 7th. Highly recommended. Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Westerville P.L., Ohio Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. McCorkle gives herself over to her stories like a dancer surrenders to music, and, consequently, they flow as naturally across the page as a stream rounds rocks. Each tale in her first collection since Crash Diet (1992) sparkles with mischievous humor and affection and reveals an unabashed fascination with how people cope with the boons and forfeitures of life. Dysfunctional relationships of all kinds figure prominently in each story, including "Life Prerecorded," a sweet and funny chronicle of a pregnancy, and "Last Request," a consideration of marriage. McCorkle's spin on the human condition is gratifyingly inventive, whether she's portraying a guy who prefers listening to his perennial rock-'n'-roll favorites to confronting reality, or a woman so fed up with her married lover that she appeals to his wife in "Your Husband Is Cheating on Us." McCorkle, author, too, of five novels, does tap into her southern roots, but her vision extends far beyond regional parameters, making her a natural choice for fans of Jane Hamilton as well as Lee Smith. Donna Seaman McCorkle's fifth novel (and sixth book, including a fine collection, Crash Diet, 1992) is a narrative gem that emanates dramatic heat, southern-gothic light, and an uncanny emotional wisdom. The sixtysomething heroine, Queen Mary Stutts Purdy, called Quee, has just opened a smoking rehab in her house in Fulton, North Carolina, a little town ``halfway between the river and the ocean.'' This is the latest of Quee's many businesses, and she's assembled the usual motley assortment of helpers: Alicia Jameson, long-suffering wife of th