The Goddaughter

The Goddaughter, Melodie Campbell, Orca Book Publishers, 2012

This very short novel (actually a novella) is about Gina Gallo, a certified gemologist. She is also related to the local mob in the Hamilton, Ontario area, but she insists that she is out of "the family business." Well, not exactly.

A botched diamond delivery leads to Gina being "convinced" to smuggle them across the border, to Buffalo, in the heels of a pair of fancy shoes. The shoes get stolen, forcing Gina, and local sports writer Pete Malone, to follow the thief, a bleached blond prostitute, to a hotel in Phoenix. The shoes are retrieved, and the pair head back to Hamilton.

Before the delivery can be made, there is the small matter of getting a recently murdered mob associate out of the Buffalo morgue before the autopsy. It involves the use of an ice cream truck to get the body across the border.

Do Gina and Pete get the diamonds to the right people in Buffalo? Since Pete now knows too much about internal "family business," his choices are to marry Gina, or get whacked.

This is a very short book that can be read in an hour or so. It's got some humor to it (the mobsters are not exactly at the level of the film "Goodfellas") and it will keep the reader entertained.