The Golden Unicorn

See my review of Whitney's [book: Daughter of the Stars] for more on Whitney and the genre. This book's protagonist, Courtney Marsh, is a success at a very young age but there is something missing in her life because she is an adoptee. Her adoptive parents have recently died and this makes her even more determined to find her biological ones. The only clues she has are a golden unicorn necklace that was with her when she was adopted, a brief mention of East Hampton in an old letter, and a note on a newspaper clipping showing a painting by an East Hampton artist. As she makes her living by interviewing accomplished women and writing about them, it is not too hard for her to arrange a visit to East Hampton and meet the family which might show more be hers. She quickly realizes that they probably are, and she wishes they weren't -- dysfunctional is too tame a word. But, there's a handsome son-in-law whose marriage is obviously on the rocks....
This book obviously follows a formula. But then, so do boeuf bourguignon and buche de Noel. It's the details, the ingredients and how the formula is prepared, that make the difference both in food and fiction. Whitney was certainly a master chef of this souffle-like type of fiction. show less

Attractive orphan searches for her real parents amongst a family of wealthy ratbags in the Hamptons. Someone is a murderer, and our orphan puts herself at risk in the gothic tradition.