Connie May Fowler's fifth and latest book, The Problem With Murmur Lee, opens with Murmur Lee Harp and her boyfriend taking a romantic sailboat ride down the Iris Haven River. Somehow, inexplicably, Murmur Lee drowns that night and finds herself in an afterlife limbo where she begins examining her life in an effort to understand her death. Meanwhile, back in her north Florida community, her still-living friends — an eccentric lot that includes a transsexual ex-marine, a widower who feels responsible for Lee's death, her chain-smoking yoga instructor, a bartender, the aforementioned boyfriend and her "Yankeefied" childhood friend — deal with their sudden loss while trying to unravel the mystery of her death. Fowler, a native Floridian and UT alumna, talks about and signs copies of her book at two separate events this weekend. Thurs., March 23, 1 p.m., Jimmy Keel Library, 2902 Bearss Ave., Tampa, free admission; and Fri., March 24, noon, UT's Grand Ballroom, 401 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, $20 (includes lunch), 813-273-3616.
This article appears in Mar 22-28, 2006.
