Excerpt from A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"If you do say so yourself," said Juniper, taking the sunscreen.

"By the way, do not tell Grandma I said that."

Next came a shirtless man with a golf tan, wearing coral-colored flowered shorts below the protruding belly common to so many middle-aged men. He left the tall door open behind him. "Is this the life or what?" he said. He carried a bottle of beer in one hand and a pitcher of something pink in the other. Setting the pitcher on a teak dining table, he added, "Who's ready for a swim?"

"I am!" said a little girl, skipping outside behind him.

The woman said, "Are you sure the water's warm enough? They just filled it yesterday."

The little girl, maybe seven years old, fuchsia bikini, big yellow sunglasses, put her hands on her hips and answered, "Mommy, are you a man or a mouse?"

Xavier, realizing that he was staring, finished stuffing a bag and then put down his rake and turned to go find his mother. Might as well get the introductions over with. Before he got more than a few steps, though, the man called to him.

"Hey there, son."

Excerpted from A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler. Copyright © 2020 by Therese Anne Fowler. Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.