By Chris Mason
Book Synopsis
In a small Oregon river town the local paper’s advice column generates a storm of controversy every week, because the letters in it are about real people and their real problems—but the subjects didn’t write the letters. The columnist, “Mrs. Bambi,” eavesdrops on conversations in public places and answers the letters that the subjects might have written, if they were willing to subject themselves to her snarky responses.
Everyone wants to string her up, but the columnist is not a woman, it’s a widower named Richard whose friends tolerate him mostly because of his adorable nine-year old daughter.
Richard has led a quiet life, raising his daughter, working part-time at his small computer consulting business, and drinking with his friends every Friday, when they take turns watching his daughter to give him a night off. His best friend is A.M, the owner of a deranged clothing shop: a smart, foul-mouthed, sex-crazed, brazen lesbian. Because most of his other friends are people introduced to him by A.M., almost everyone he knows is gay, except for the town hussy, the ailing owner of a mail order business, and the editor of his advice column—who wants Richard to stop writing it.