This was my first experience with W. Somerset Maugham and I can definitely say I will add more of his books to my rental pool. I was enthralled with “The Painted Veil” from the moment I picked it up. I chose it because I was interested in seeing the 2006 movie of the same name and I really like to read the book before seeing the movie. (Or Boovie as Steve Leveen, CEO of Levenger likes to call them.)

The preface was especially insightful as it opened your eyes to what was going on in Maugham’s head as he developed this story. We learn that the inspiration for “The Painted Veil” came from a line of Dante. The preface also gave an interesting history of the serialized magazine publication for the novel.
The story centers around Kitty Fane and her husband Walter. Walter is a biologist in the Foreign Service for Great Britain pre-WW2. Kitty has followed Walter to Hong Kong and has embarked on an adulterous affair to assuage her boredom. Kitty married Walter in a fit of rage when her younger sister became engaged. She has led a very shallow life up until this point of which the main goal was to marry up and achieve a higher social status.
When Walter discovered her affair, he reacts very unpredictably. He brings (forces) Kitty along on an expedition into Central China to study a cholera epidemic. Kitty’s despair at being dragged away from her love affair combined with a healthy fear of cholera begin her rising self-awareness regarding her marriage and the value of her life up until this point.
This story is essentially about Kitty’s awakening and her true growth into adulthood. Maugham’s tense language and short chapters lead you quickly through the story. But no matter how quickly you can read the story, you should slow down and actually listen to the story. In “The Painted Veil”, sometimes it’s what isn’t written but what’s left unwritten that has the most impact.

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The graduate students at New York College are striking, the trash cans are overflowing and Heather Wells’ new boss has just been murdered. The only good thing is that the cafeteria workers are part of a different union, so the caf will remain open… oh, and that little thing of Tad popping THE question.

The third book in the Heather Wells mysteries falls right in line with the first two… excellent. The first two books are must reads and will lead you up to this moment nicely. Heather Wells is the pop princess who, after her mom ran away with all her money, is now living with her ex-boyfriend’s brother, working for next-to-nothing at the “Death Dorm” and trying to get her undergraduate degree. As usual, the police are not heading in the right direction to find Dr. Veatch’s murder, so Heather must step in and pick up the pieces, solve the mystery and almost get killed in the process. Heather spends most the time trying to figure out how she will answer Tad’s question and avoiding him until she decides what the answer should be. In the end, the big question is who pops THE big question. Will Heather end up with Tad, her cute, vegetarian, exercise obsessed remedial math prof, Jordan her ex-boyfriend, married, father-to-be, or Cooper her PI landlord? The excitement is killing me!

Meg Cabot is awesome, bringing back all the characters we have loved from the first two Heather Wells novels. I was hoping that the Heather Wells mysteries were going to be a multi-book series, but with Big Boned, it seems that it will only be a trilogy. At the end of this novel Heather does agree to marry one of the men in her life, so, no matter who she chooses, the sexual tension is gone. We will have to wait until the next installment (if there will be one), to see if Heather choosing a suitor will cause the series to jump the shark.

Heather is a great role model, showing that even if you once had it all, you can live a down to earth life, where you work for your rent and have a real job. Maybe, Brittany Spears should read this book to see how a washed up pop princess should run her life. It’s also good to see that those of us who were once a size 6 can grow to a size 12 and still have a meaningful, fulfilling life, with friends and love. Lots of women will relate to Heather’s constant struggle between losing weight and giving up the food she loves.

A wonderfully entertaining book, combining the three things I love: murder, humor and little romance.

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