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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Witty & Humorous, March 7, 2006
This review is from: The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club (Debutante Dropout Mysteries, No. 3) (Mass Market Paperback)
A big cheer for Susan McBride and The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club! The third installment in the Debutante Dropout books is a great addition to this series. I love the author's witty writing style and her true to life, yet, quirky characters she has created. The great dialog between Andy and Cissy, and humorous observations, provide plenty of laughs as they go through a slight role reversal of mother and daughter in this book.
Cissy has a much larger role in this book than the previous two, which I was delighted to see with this character. Cissy is convinced her dearest friends were murdered because of the evidence she discovered, a nightgown and smudged lipstick. Andy, however, is not convinced of anything, except that her mother may have just flipped out under the stress of finding her friends dead. Andy does her best to humor her mother until the tests prove her friends deaths were from natural causes, while Cissy pushes forward to investigate with help from a reluctant Andy. When things aren't adding up like they should, Andy begins to realize Cissy might be closer to a truth no one wanted to believe, which could place Cissy right in the cross hairs of the killer.
Susan McBride takes us on a great ride into her world, giving fans and new readers of the Deb Dropout Series a fun, often hysterical, and exciting journey for us to enjoy.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
exciting amateur sleuth, February 1, 2006
This review is from: The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club (Debutante Dropout Mysteries, No. 3) (Mass Market Paperback)
Only for her mother will debutante dropout turned web designer Andy Kendricks attend the funeral of Cissy Kendrick's close friend Bebe Kent. After the funeral, they go to the memorial service held at the dead woman's residence in the exclusive assisted care facility Belle Mede. When Cissy learns that Bebe died in her pajamas she thinks that death listed as natural causes was really a homicide because the victim always slept in the nude.
The facility is run by Annabelle who knew Andy when they went to an upscale camp for blue blooded rich kids. Annabelle and Cissy's daughter were close friends, two misfits who clung together for security. Cissy maneuvers Annabelle into letting her and Andy investigate Bebe's's death by posing as the new resident and her niece but on their first day in Bebe's home, another woman close to Cissy is found dead. Cissy believes that Sarah Lee Seville was also a homicide victim because her make up was smudged, something that she would fix immediately in case someone saw her. At first thinking her mother's grief is making her crazy, Andy finally comes around to her view point because there are too many links between the two dead women. Nobody, least of all Andy, thought that Cissy would be in danger from the killer.
Susan McBride infuses her exciting amateur sleuth mystery with a gallows's humor that is both appropriate and funny in a macabre sort of way. Although Andy thinks her mother is wrong in her description that murder took the lives of her two friends, the love she feels for Cissy compels her to find out if there is any evidence to support her theory . This down home Texas mystery is enjoyable, entertaining and riddled with red herrings and unexpected plot twists.
Harriet Klausner
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Characters Weren't Given Enough Plot, December 4, 2006
This review is from: The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club (Debutante Dropout Mysteries, No. 3) (Mass Market Paperback)
Andrea Kendricks was looking forward to a nice relaxing Saturday alone. However, one of her mother's best friends, Bebe Kent, has died, and "Andy" gets talked into attending the memorial service to be Cissy's moral support. After the service, Andy learns that Cissy thinks her friend was murdered. Clearly, Cissy's grief is affecting her mental health.
Bebe had recently moved into the Belle Meade, a plush retirement community for the extremely rich. When another resident is found dead, Cissy again finds the normal looking circumstances suspicious. Could she be right?
Having read the previous two books in the series, I expected the plot of the book to be a little slow right out of the gate. However, I wasn't prepared for this. The plot moved forward with glacial speed, with too much of it being revealed on the back of the book. Frankly, the back of the book may be my complaint more then anything else. I love Andy and Cissy, so I was highly disappointed by the lack of development. One of Andy's childhood friends makes an appearance, and I loved learning more about Andy from their interactions.
Die hard fans of the series will still enjoy reading the book. But don't bother reading if you don't love the characters.
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