The Safari

A wealthy fashion family confronts secrets, lies, and murder in this disjointed mystery from former attorney Goldis (The Main Character). Odelia Babel, the 64-year-old CEO of billion-dollar luxury brand Circ, invites her family and her best friend to the Leopard Sands estate in South Africa, where she plans to marry Asher Bach, a much younger fashion designer. Odelia’s three grown children are skeptical of the union, and concerned about what it might mean for their inheritances. The morning of the ceremony, Odelia is found dead. Suspicion immediately falls on her son, Sam, with whom she had a nasty fight the night before. But readers know that Odelia had already been receiving threatening letters, and it’s gradually revealed that resentments have long been building within the Babel family. The setting is evocative, and Goldis lands a few trenchant jabs about sexism in the fashion industry, but she’s less successful at making the voices of her six main characters distinctive, and the reveals, when they come, fall flat. This fails to ignite. Agent: Rachel Ekstrom Courage, Courage Literary. (May)