Customer Reviews

Too Pretty to Die (Debutant Dropout Mysteries, No. 5)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The latest rage among all the Dallas debutantes is called a Pretty Party. Doctor Sonja Madhavi and Lance Zarimba, her boyfriend/aesthetician, show up with their "Botox in the Box" kit full of syringes and give little samples to each party guest. Few attend these parties and never show up at the Pretty Place boutique for treatments afterward. Former socialite Andrea "Andy" Kendricks would rather have a root canal than attend one, but attend she did. It was a favor to her close friend Janet Graham, a society reporter for the Park City Paper (PCP). And the juiciest story in the area drops into Janet's lap when aging beauty queen Miranda DuBois slams into the room full of alcohol, rage, and a small gun. Miranda is a star anchorwoman and went to the good doctor for just a tad of face work. Unfortunately, Miranda had "an adverse reaction to the wrinkle filler". Luckily the only thing hit by the bullet is a Picasso. Andy calms Miranda down and takes her home to bed. The next morning Miranda is found dead.

The last thing Andy wants is to be dragged into another gut-wrenching drama. However, Miranda's mother is out of the country and the police think the death is by suicide. So Cissy Blevins Kendricks, Queen Bee of Dallas Society (a.k.a. Andy's mother), is named trustee of all Miranda's possessions. Add to this that Miranda's mother insists Cissy hire someone to conduct an independent autopsy (to draw his own conclusions separate and apart from the M.E.) as well as a private investigator. To make matters go from bad to worse, Cissy and the deputy have an argument, which everyone hears because the microphone was still on by mistake, so everyone knows that Andy was the last known person to see Miranda alive AND hears Cissy's claim (a.k.a. lie) that Andy has proof it was not suicide! Here we go again ...

***** This is one fun and sassy read. Only Susan McBride can create such an amusing mystery that simply overflows with ... ah, tea and vinegar. The Debutante Dropout Mystery Series just seems to get better and better. This is not one to miss! *****


Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

I'm upset at Avon Books. They've decided to shake up their mystery line and have dropped one of my favorite cozy writers, Susan McBride. And that, dear readers, is why this review is so late in coming. I got my hands on a galley copy of Too Pretty to Die in November 2007 and voraciously read Andy Kendricks latest escapade cover to cover in three nights.

Too Pretty To Die is the fifth and final installment of the Debutante Dropout Mystery series. Maybe that's a good things because it seems that dropout debs are turning up everywhere in the bios of a host of young writers-like Cornelia Read. But always keep in mind that Susan McBride was the first to write about a woman named Andy who was just too hard-headed to do what her Momma wanted.

This time, Andy gets dragged to a "pretty party" by her society reporter friend Janet, who is looking for the big story that will save her career. At this party the Dallas elite get Botoxed as they drink champagne and backstab each other. In stumbles Dallas' most beautiful new anchor, Miranda DuBouis, and takes a pot shot at the doctor with the magic needles. It seems that something went astray during Miranda's last visit to Dr. Madhavi and her face is so deformed that her career may well be over.

Andy, in a gesture of compassion and an overabundant need to get the heck out of Dodge-and back to her dude whom she left sleeping in her bed-drives the drunk Miranda home and leaves her snoring it off. Then Miranda turns up dead and Andy becomes "the last person to see Miranda Dubois" alive.

Too Pretty To Die is an easy read with enough twists to keep me guessing who did it. It is also McBride's best-written book yet. Readers who follow McBride can see her become a better writer with each book. Still, unlike Miranda, McBride's career is not over. She's signed with Delacourt and is busily fulfilling a contract with books about debs for a young adult audience.

Armchair Interviews says: McBride is a good storyteller.

I've just turned the last page on TOO PRETTY TO DIE by Susan McBride, and I loved it! The characters were so colorful but real, and the dry sense of humor was right up my alley. This is definitely not your typical mystery. Andrea Kendricks, the Debutante Dropout, gets dragged into a situation she'd rather avoid but can't. When her one-time classmate, beauty queen Miranda, dies unexpectedly after going ballistic at a Dallas "pretty party" with a celeb-dermo who'd scarred her for life, Andy gets caught up in the action when the cops call it suicide. Bravo to McBride for a light summer read that pokes fun at society's obsession with beauty and perfection. I'd recommend this series to anyone who hasn't tried it yet. You might want to start at the beginning with BLUE BLOOD and work your way through them.

I was really disappointed with this book, as I had enjoyed the series to date. However, I thought this one was very thin on plot. Without all the padding, this would have been a short story. In other words, not a lot actually happened, if you outlined the story -- no twists and turns, but a whole lot of stuff about Texas society, botox, etc. I think the author should try to come up with a plot with more complexity in her next book in the series. I had the impression she was under pressure from her publisher to simply churn out another book in the series.

A normal woman fighting the "society" image, and winning! But she always
seems to sully her background by tripping over dead people. No matter, she can handle it! She proves all beauty is skin-deep, it's what's inside
that counts.

Susan McBride's wicked sense of humor skewers again while entertaining at every turn of the page! My recommendation -- don't take a vacation without packing this paperback to add extra fun to the trip. You aren't taking a trip? Indulge yourself at home (or in your work cubicle while no one is looking) with a fun read that crackles with sharp observations and provides pure escapism from everyday life as most of us know it.

Beautiful Miranda DuBois is an anchor on a Dallas Television Station but to improve her looks she went to cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Sonja Madhavi for work on her eyes and her mouth. The results are a drooping mouth and an eye twitch, which in turn tainted her career and caused her to be ousted by the Caviar Cliub. In a drunken rage she crashes a party at Delaney Armstrong's house where Dr. Sonja is giving Botox injections.

She fires her gun but the bullet hits a picture frame and the weapon is taken away from her. Andy Kendricks, who avoids being a society girl even though her mother is mega-wealthy, takes Miranda home, puts her to bed on the couch and shuts off the computer. The next morning she returns to Miranda only to find her dead. The police think it is a suicide but Andy believes differently. The computer is missing, the gun that killed her was the one left behind at the party and Miranda was angry not despondent. When her mother gets involved trying to prove it was murder and her best friend, a reporter cajoles her into investigating what really happened, Andy has no choice but to figure out what occurred; unaware that she is putting herself in harm's way.

TOO PRETTY TO DIE is a delightful Debutante Dropout mystery with a social message concerning the nation's addiction to beauty at all cost. The protagonist of the humorous and charming cozy isn't interested in beauty or her standing in society which makes her seem much more mature than many of the other characters. Susan McBride provides a fantastic amateur sleuth tale sprinkled with humor yet with a deep underlying question on wasting medical funds on the frivolous.

Harriet Klausner

I love this writer, this series is terrific!
Wish I could give it 10 stars!

Too Pretty to Die is a sad commentary on the importance of beauty both in the world of television and also in everyday life. Miranda DuBois is a true beauty, pageant queen, and television anchor. But she has passed the magic "30" mark and is concerned about her future on the tube, particularly as she has received some anonymous viewer emails commenting on the deterioration of her looks. So she goes to Dr. Sonja Madhavi, celebrity skin doctor, toast of Dallas. And her botox is botched, leaving her with a twitchy eye and a droopy mouth. So, drunk and brandishing a gun, she crashes a "Pretty Party" and threatens Dr. Madhavi.

Coincidentally Andy is there at the behest of her friend and society reporter Janet Graham. Andy, Janet, Miranda, and the hostess are all former schoolmates as well. They manage to subdue her and Andy takes her home to sleep it off. Thinking it's safe to leave her, she goes home to Brian. But the next morning Miranda is dead. The police are sure it's suicide. But her laptop and cell phone are missing. Andy's mother, society maven Cissy, a good friend of Miranda's mother, doesn't believe it's suicide. Neither does Andy. And Janet comes to agree with them.

Cissy brings in an expert to do a post-mortem and hires a detective, Milton Fletcher, who is 35, handsome, an ex-Navy SEAL, and drives a Porsche Boxter when not on a case. (BTW Boxter is misspelled throughout the book!) If Andy weren't in love with Brian, Fletch would be so her type!

Clues lead Andy to the Caviar Club, which is not a gourmet group--or at least not a gourmet FOOD group! All dressed up with hair and makeup perfect, the gorgeous Andy sets off to find the secrets of this hush-hush gathering of the beautiful (&/or very rich) people. And she does discover the motive for the murder, a somewhat pathetic one that gives the reader a little sympathy for the killer.

At the end, there is a surprise for Andy. Make that two surprises, as Cissy has one for her as well.

I've enjoyed this book because Andy acts more intelligent than in most of the others and has started to reach a certain amount of understanding of her mother, a character I absolutely love.

I have not seen a 6th book advertised on Amazon as yet. I do hope there will be one.

TOO PRETTY TO DIE (A Debutante Dropout Mystery)
SUSAN McBRIDE

Rating 4.5 Enchantments

TOO PRETTY TO DIE, the fifth book in Ms. McBride's popular Debutant Dropout Mystery series, doesn't disappoint.

Thirty-year-old Andrea `Andy ` Kendricks finds herself at gunpoint during a Pretty party when popular TV personality Miranda DuBois storms in to confront Dallas plastic surgeon Dr. Sonja Madhavi. It's up to Andy to take the drunken Miranda home. But when Miranda suddenly ends up dead less than twenty-four hours later and the police immediately classify it as a suicide, Andy isn't so sure, especially when Miranda's laptop and cell phone turn up missing. What follows is something that will send Andy deep into the dark corners of Dallas society and into a private club, but will her little investigation put Andy in the same kind of danger Miranda found herself?

One of my favorite scenes in the book is when Andy is pushed to go undercover and investigate The Caviar Club for her best friend. One entire makeover later and Andy barely recognizes herself in the mirror. She only has an hour inside the exclusive club to get as much info as she can and get back out. But things start going bad the moment Andy recognizes a familiar face and pushes her way inside a curtained off area she'd been warned to stay out of.

TOO PRETTY TO DIE is a solid, entertaining mystery read, complete with intriguing clues and definite signs that the popular Dallas TV host Miranda DuBois would not have committed suicide.

Called "The Lou's Whodunit Queen" by Sauce Magazine in St. Louis, Susan McBride was selected as one of the city's "top singles" in 2005 by St. Louis Magazine but is single no more. She tied the knot in late February of 2008! You can learn more about Ms. McBride and her books at her website, [...]

Lisa
Enchanting Reviews
June 2008