In her focus on ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations—and coming out ahead— Isaacs's novels present a generally optimistic view of life. She is also a sharp observer of contemporary mores and typical problems of an era.

For this reason the books hold up a provocative mirror to each of the decades that they're set in, as well as to concerns in some readers' lives.

1. Detective Steve Brady in Magic Hour is engaged to a genuinely nice woman and seems finally ready for a stable, normal life. Yet it is right at this time that he becomes obsessed with Bonnie Spencer, a murder suspect with a number of destabilizing traits in her background. Is this simply fate or serendipity at work?

Or are there other reasons for his attraction to Bonnie?

2. The main female characters in Magic Hour and After All These Years...