Open with Care

Tina Appleton Bishop's third novel, like her other stories, is set in Connecticut. Much conflict and angst festers beneath the serene surface of Christmas Cove, a popular tourist mecca operated by Larry and Sophie Bayers. Jennifer, their adopted daughter, had longed to search for her birth parents. Bruno, the bi-racial adopted son of the Bayers' friend, Anna Lagano, was driven by an equal compulsion. Both were warned against the perils in their quests. Hence the title "Open with Care." In a further complication, Max Lerner, a suave and scheming guest at the inn, was determined to exploit Anna's artistic talents, and for the Bayers there was the ever-looming threat that artificial trees might bankrupt their Christmas tree business. The novel's climax is the trial scene, the end of a plot that includes theft, romance, suspicion, heroism and a mysterious death.