(Watergate, Schmatergate, get a load of this: a dead infant, a sleazy president, a manic-depressive first lady, an aide that makes G. Gordon Liddy look like a wuss, murder, adultery, a thousand skeletons peeping from a thousand closets. Exclusive moves so quickly because somebody is always doing something bad. TV journalist Barrie Travis interviews the first lady, a Southern belle still mourning the death of her infant. With a mixture of horror and self-interest, Travis perceives the slightest hint that the first infant didn't merely die, but was murdered. But by who, and why? As you can imagine, that's when it gets messy. The book might capsize under the sheer weight of seamy scandals and sleazy characters were it not for the almost-supernaturally spunky Travis and her somewhat reluctant love-object, craggy ex-Marine Gray Bondurant. Bondurant left the White House under a cloud. Was he the first lady's lover? Travis and Bondurant come together to solve the mystery, of course. If you read fast, you might just keep up.

Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 2 members.