74 Seaside Avenue

Teri Miller Polgar has a life she could not have imagined a few years back. She is married to Bobby Polgar, a famous chess champion, and they share a house overlooking Puget Sound in Cedar Cove. She still works at Get Nailed, the town's beauty salon, where the gossip comes to her.

Lately Bobby has been preoccupied. When Teri asks what is wrong, he answers that he is protecting his queen. Teri suspects he is talking about her rather than about chess, but he will say nothing more, and she is left to wonder what he is worried about.

Around Teri, other lives are unsettled too. Her friend Rachel has two men interested in her. Linnette McAfee left Cedar Cove after her love life fell apart, and Teri has heard things about why. Teri knows something about romantic trouble herself.

The book is a small-town contemporary novel set in the Cedar Cove community, with Teri as the narrator and the salon as the place where news travels. The tone is chatty and warm, with a light touch of mystery in Bobby's unexplained worry. It reads like an afternoon of talk in a salon chair.