Clearing Customs
by Martha Egan
Fun, grown-up book, with a sympathetic main character, and lots of intrigue involved. The main character, Beverly Parmetier, is a small business owner, who imports crafts, antiques and handmade goods from several countries in Central America. She lives in New Mexico, and loves her little Albuquerqe home, her shop, and her life for the most part, though her love life isn’t spectacular and she always is worrying about finances.
All this changes, after a vacation to Mexico with her beloved “crazy” Aunt Magdalena, the one family member who has always supported her. The rest of her family is still solidly ensconced in the UP – pronounced yoopee – Michigan’s Upper peninsula. Beverly instead served in the Peace Corps, speaks fluent Spanish, and is extremely knowledgeable and a scrupulously honest business woman.
Enter the “bad guys” – a corrupt and, we learn, slightly unbalanced U. S. Customs official, who is convinced Beverly is smuggling in and dealing in both stolen and illegal pre-Columbian artifacts, and probably drugs as well. The harrasment begins with packages being searched at the borderr, and escalated through agents following her every move, her home being bugged, her store being visited repeatedly by agents trying to trap her into selling them goods she doesn’t have, asking for drugs, or just being obvious and annoying.
The harrasment escalted, no matter what she does, and her oof-again, on-again boyfriend, who is a lawyer, is no help. When the “feds” even appear on her vacation rafting trip with old friends, she gets desperate.
Following her as she struggles to maintain both her freedom, innocence and sense of humor in the face of all this makes a good story, and little side stories, like her friendship with a handicapped kid and his dog who live across the street from her all add color to a good story.
I am not sure if it counts as “suspense” or mystery, but there is plenty of both, and it is a fun read. This is a first novel, and the author has worked for years in the import business, so you end up learning bits and pieces as you read, which is always fun. I recommend the book.