Lucy Hawkings' sophomore release RUN FOR YOUR LIFE ventures into the world of art and antiquity buying and selling. Fleur Bonner, daughter of an aging rock star, sells antiquities for a less than credible dealer. Looking for a little adventure and because she has a hard time saying no, Fleur joins a fledging running club to train for the London Marathon. Her two worlds collide when Fleur finds herself center stage in a case involving fraudulent art sales. Will Fleur extricate herself, salvage her career, and finish the marathon?

I was frustrated when reading RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. At first, I thought my anxiety stemmed from the novel being chick-lit, British style. It took a while to become accustomed to the voice. My problem, not Ms. Hawkings'. Eventually, I grew comfortable with the writing style but I remained frustrated. About halfway though, I found I still had trouble finishing the book. I realized it was because I didn't particularly care for the main character, Fleur. She just didn't interest me, not nearly as much as any one of the lineup of quirky secondary characters. Fleur is surrounded by a number of characters who through their personalities and odd habits endear themselves to the reader: Roz, the overweight but insecure court of the clerk; Sean, the ex-boyfriend now happily in love with someone else; Peter, the lawyer who fell in love with Roz at first sight; Alice, the snobby woman whose husband has abandoned her and her children; Snook, the assistant turned detective wannabe; and Jed, the less than devoted dad and rock star whose best days are long gone, among others.

What did interest me, and kept me turning pages until the end, was the plot twists and turns related to the art world theft and setup. The novel frequently went in unexpected directions that made me think it would have been a great book had Fleur not been so placid. Perhaps the plot wouldn't have worked as well, i.e. some of the circumstances that Fleur encountered might have been less believable had she had more backbone, but I guess I simply prefer my heroines a little more feisty.