BAGGAGE

You can run, but you can’t hide.

Lina Pritchett reasons that no one will ever find her in Craggy Rock, one of the most remote hamlets in Australia. She’s dyed her hair and settled down with a good man named Tony, who has no way of knowing that she’s actually Daisy Fraser, vilified in the British tabloids a decade ago as a murderer, purveyor of a lethal overdose to Giles de Montfort (“one of those Hugh Grant-type boys”). Her ten-year-old son Red—she always said she adopted him from wandering hippies in India—and Tony, an opal miner and man of few words, would rather watch TV than argue with her. She’s pregnant again, so she’s got a roight to act a little crazy, roight? Life goes on, and Lina figures she’s probably safe forever. But then Sophie, best friend from way back, comes to the outback for a family wedding and recognizes Lina/Daisy. Worse: Sophie is dating a sleazy tabloid reporter who desperately needs a big story to jump-start his sagging career. Lawrence Golchin springs forth from his London lair, hot on the trail of this old, cold case, and pounces on Daisy, harassing her and her family mercilessly. Turns out that Daisy ran around with the wrong crowd when she was a troubled young ballerina at the Royal Academy. Giles never should have injected the speed she gave him, and she really isn’t responsible for what happened. But she must set things right with Mum and Dad back in dismal old England, plus have a heart-to-heart with Sophie, who was utterly shattered when she thought Daisy had thrown herself off a bridge after the scandal broke. Will the Aussies extradite Lina on murder charges even though she’s preggers? Did she really adopt Red from wandering hippies, or is he Giles’s son? Will she have to go back to her real hair color?

A disappointing second effort from Barr (Backpack, Jan. 2002), not helped a bit by the snotty tone.