Beverly S. Martin’s glitz-and-glamour 80′s novel Juffie Kane is one of my all time favorite dusty books  – I’ve yet to find anyone else familiar with it.  It’s also the example I use in my weeding workshops – one of the things that can keep us from weeding is knowing that a book is somewhere, someone’s favorite, and what will happen if we weed it?  (here’s a hint:  ILL.)

Juffie grows up in the 1930s as the beloved granddaughter of gangsters.  In the 1940s, she finds her acting career going nowhere fast, so she enters into a deal with the Mob. By the time she’s 25, she’s had a string of Broadway hits, but is “owned” by a gangster who forces her to play Vegas and act as a dope courier. By the time the 1950s roll around, she’s at the peak of a glittering career, but is killed in an avalanche in Switzerland…or is she? Characters that jump off the page and all of the glitz and glamour of an actress’s life make this older title absolutely worth seeking out, especially if you like steamy sagas with strong heroines.  And if your library has it… please don’t weed it.