The Cordelia Squad

""When true love hits," he used to tell her---like he knew what he was talking about---"you can almost hear it go click."" "That was a laugh." "She'd cried for months, really.

Cried when people came to look at the house. Cried at the closing. Cried at the lawyer's when she'd filed for divorce. Cried, especially, when the children tried to be kind." "Well, it was over.

She wasn't crying anymore." Divorce has left Claire Breslinsky with two teenagers and very little cash.

So maybe it's rash of her to buy a huge and very dilapidated mansion in Queens.

The plan, such as it is, is to somehow magically transform the place into a charming and profitable bed-and-breakfast. A fire at the Cordelia Inn, Claire's incipient hostel, brings fear of arson---and a firefighter with an eye for Claire.

Then the wealthy contractor threatening Claire's business offers to rent Claire's best room.

But why? From Kelly's first book, "Park Lane South, Queens," the events in the life of the Breslinsky family have been followed by readers who feel they are sitting in Mary Breslinsky's kitchen.

The author's gift for breathing genuine life into her characters is on brilliant display in this stirring portrait of Irish-Polish fortitude.