The Impatient Traveler

Lauren Mendelsohn, a scholarly thirty-something criminal law professor has fled an unhappy marriage and crumbling career as a prosecutor in San Francisco for a teaching position at a law school in northern California's legendary wine country.

The story begins when she visits Coconut Grove to see her aunt, an eccentric artist. Her fellow houseguest (and fellow Californian) is Desmond Franzini, a writer of historical fiction, there to revive his flagging career with a Miami book tour. Obnoxiou...