Mixing a dash of Dallas society, a pinch of Janet Evanovich, and murder in the land of big hair, Blue Blood is the first installment in award-winning author Susan McBride's sassy Debutante Dropout mystery series.
To the dismay of her high society mother, Cissy, Dallas heiress Andy Kendricks wants no part of the Junior League life—opting instead for a job as a website designer and a passel of unpedigreed pals. Now her good friend Molly O'Brien is in bad trouble, accused of killing her boss at the local restaurant Jugs.
Though no proper deb would ever set foot in such a sleazy dive, Andy's soon slipping into skintight hot pants and a stuffed triple D bra to gain employment there and somehow help clear Molly's name.
But Andy's undercover lark soon brings her into too-close contact with all manner of dangerous adversaries—including a shady TV preacher, a fanatical Mothers Against Porn activist … and a killer who is none too keen on meddling rich girls.
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REVIEW
Molly O’Brien had a tough life after she chose to drop her fashion design classes at the Columbia College in Chicago where she shared a room with her best friend Andy Kendricks from Texas. They met at school when foster child Molly was admitted to a prestigious school for wealthy kids through a scholarship. An illustrious affair with a Hemmingway wanne-be convinced Molly that love could conquer all. She followed him to Paris, fell pregnant, got dropped and had to move back to Texas, where she found a job at the hot-spot restaurant "Jugs".
She is accused of murdering the owner, Bud Hartman, and desperate for help, contacts Andy, whom she hasn't seen for ten years.
Rebellious Andy immediately steps in to help the only real friend she ever had. The friendship was not exactly what Andy's mother, Cissy, a Texan high-society dame, had in mind for her heiress daughter. Molly was from the wrong side of the tracks. But Andy made it her mission to buck the system her whole life, like refusing to be a debutante on her 18th birthday, and studying graphic design and computers when she, as a trust fund baby, never had to work.
With her unending love for Nancy Drew and the television series Law & Order, Andy gets to work on solving the murder mystery. Any bra size is possible with the right shoulder pads strategically positioned. Combined with serious hot pants, she did not have much trouble in getting a job at "Jugs" as a waitress to try and find the real killers of the dangerous owner.
"Jugs" is more than just eye candy for men, thorns in the eyes of the Mother of Porn - ladies, the Women’s Wellness Clinic, and points of interested to Reverend Jim Bob.`
There is a lot of appetites to be satisfied in the ensuing drama, adventure, and mystery. As Dolly Parton can attest to: Jugs can be a lot more than weapons of mass distraction and feisty Andy knows how to achieve just that!
My comments: It's a chic-lit book for young women, containing all the elements to demarcate the target audience perfectly. All the young women who ever played a role as a PI, especially a contemporary element of Nancy Drew, are included. The background includes a touch of a Paris Hilton, the reality tv-series The Reals Housewives of Texas, and a similarity with the restaurant-chain Shooters. It is a delightful, enchanting and fun read. There's lots of love lost, but for various reasons other than romance!
Oh, I identified the murderer right from the start. It felt good for a change!
Star rating:
Plot 1; drama 1; character building 1; satire 1; social comment 1. Five stars in this genre.
In fact, I enjoyed it so much, it was presented in such good taste, I would love to read more in this Debutante Dropout Series of 5 books: Blue Blood (#1); The Good Girl's Guide To Murder (#2); The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club (#3); Night of the Living Deb (#4); Too Pretty to Die (#5).
Yes, imagine me enjoying this genre! Unthinkable, but very true in this case!
ARC received from edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com
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Genres: 2013-releases, 2014-releases, action, adventure, crime-novel, detective-story, drama, family, fiction, murder, mystery, relationships, reviewed, romance, satire
Original title: Blue Blood (Debutante Dropout Mystery, #1)
Number of pages: Mass Market Paperback: 333 pages
Formats: Kindle, Paperback, Nook, Kobo
Publication date: January 2014
Publishers: Avon / Ebook, Witness Impulse (HarperCollins)
ISBN: 0060563893
ISBN13: 9780060563899)
Edition language: English
Series: Debutante Dropout Mystery #1
Literary awards: Anthony Award Nominee for Best Paperback Original (2005), Lefty Award (2005)
Purchase links: Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Indiebooks, Kobobooks_____________________________________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susan McBride is the author of Very Bad Things, a young adult thriller due out in hardcover October 14, 2014, from Delacorte Press. She also writes mainstream fiction. The Truth About Love & Lightning (02/13) was selected by Target stores for their Emerging Authors program and dubbed "a poignant page-turner" by Publishers Weekly. Little Black Dress spent five weeks on the St. Louis bestsellers list and was a Target Recommended Read, and The Cougar Club was selected by Target Stores as a Bookmarked Breakout Title and named a Midwest Connections Pick by the Midwest Booksellers Association. Foreign editions of Susan’s books have been published in France, Turkey, Croatia, and Bulgaria.
Susan has penned a short memoir, In the Pink: How I Met the Perfect (Younger) Man, Survived Breast Cancer, and Found True Happiness After 40, which tells her tale of becoming an "accidental Cougar" and marrying a younger man, her cancer diagnosis at age 42, and finding herself pregnant at 47.
Susan wrote the award-winning Debutante Dropout Mysteries (HarperCollins/Avon), including Blue Blood, The Good Girl's Guide To Murder, The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night Of The Living Deb, and Too Pretty To Die. She has authored several YA series books for Random House about debutantes in Houston: The Debs (2008) and Love, Lies, And Texas Dips (2009). Gloves Off, the third book, has not been released.
In January of 2012, Susan was named one of St. Louis's "Most Dynamic People of the Year" by the Ladue News. In April of 2012, she was given the "Survivor of the Year" Award by the St. Louis affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. As Susan likes to say, "Life is never boring."
More information on the author can be found on her WEBSITE
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Books in the Debutante Dropout Mystery Series
#1 Blue Blood
#2 The Good Girl's Guide to Murder
#3 The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club
#4 Night of the Living Deb
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