The Family Man, By Elinor Lipman

Elinor Lipman has a reputation for sharp, perceptive social comedies, but her ninth novel proves more screwball than hardball. Manhattan attorney Henry Archer, a gay man of a certain age, has recently discovered that the coat-check girl at his local hair salon is Thalia – his long-estranged stepdaughter.

After reunion over lunch, he moves Thalia into his elegant brownstone, but has to conceal the fact from his ex-wife, Denise. A madcap plot, involving Henry's new lover, Todd, is played out against a backdrop of famed New York eateries. Lipman can be a very funny writer, but for Upper Westside outsiders there might be too much froth on this brew.