Tread Lightly My Dear — Eric Bercovici

Amicus ``Mickey'' Maltese still loves and lusts after his ex-wife Fiona; he treasures the belief that she will want him back, despite her subsequent marriages. Mean while, Mickey's profession as a verifier of art objects involves him in the attempt to confirm the authorship of a just-discov ered novel, supposedly by the late, great Oliver Godolphin. Coincidences abound concerning Godolphin's mysterious life, his novel's plot, and Mickey's own life. Mickey is led on a merry chase through Europe, pursuing clues while keeping a hopeful eye on his unresponsive ex-wife and a watchful one on his roguish art- dealer father. The book proceeds at a pleasant pace but the last chapter is rather rushed, as if the author suddenly realized the need to resolve everything but didn't have enough pages left to do it properly. Part mystery, part battle-of-the-sexes comedy, and part exploration of uneasy father-son relationships, this is an amus ing, though ultimately pointless, enter tainment.--A.M.B. Amantia, Population Crisis Committee Lib., Washington, D.C.