Too Rich and Too Thin, Not an an Autobiography [Paperback]

Barbara DeShong (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590806417 | ISBN-13: 978-1590806418 | Publication Date: September 1, 2009 | Edition: 1ST

Pack your bags for Texas and prepare to meet the strangest family since that little Chainsaw Massacre incident.
Psychologist Jessica LeFave will be your guide, but be forewarned, Dr. LeFave isn t your average shrink, and though her wisecracking lawyer buddy, will try to keep Jessica out of trouble, he might not be able to save you, or himself.
Your journey opens when Jessica is summoned to profile the killer who drove a spike through the heart of the notorious Bernice Jackson. Jessica is more than a little excited. Not because Bernice Jackson is dead, but because Bernice who'd soared to fame and wealth by shamelessly re-writing treasured historical events into wildly successful soft-porn novels and movies was a psychiatry patient of her husband's at the time of his death.
You see, Jessica is convinced her husband was murdered to bury a secret revealed in therapy. Since watching him dragged from the bottom of Lake Austin a Hilton receipt and another woman s wedding rings in his pocket Jessica has been a little crazy, obsessing over his files, even stalking patients with dodgy reputations.
The police dismiss her claims, leaving Jessica on her own to land your Texas tour smack in the middle of the bizarre movie-making family starring a doped up basket case son, a daughter on a death wish eating binge, and the ghost of Bernice Jackson who'd pushed her obsession with seeing herself as young and beautiful beyond any psychotic dream.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Barbara DeShong Ph.D.,P.C. is a psychologist in private practice and consulting, primarily as a keynote speaker. She has written a non-fiction book on stress after an editor at a conference in New York heard her speak and invited her to send in a proposal, which was bought. She mentions this though it's non-fiction because she wrote it in the same humorous style and because it was very successful.
Barbara calls the Lone Star state home.

Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Echelon Press; 1ST edition (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590806417
• ISBN-13: 978-1590806418
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,403,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Barbara DeShong, Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice and consulting, primarily as a keynote speaker. After an early successful book on stress, Barbara dodged the insanity and long hours of the writing world for the insanity and broken bones of showing horses.

She credits her current writing style to having unexpectedly dismounted and landed on her head too many times without a helmet. According to her, the blend of doing psychotherapy and writing humorous fiction as a perfect fit, since she loves stories and is constitutionally incapable of staying out of other people's business.

Dr. DeShong is on the web as Mysteryshrink.com, a site she developed as a way to "pay it forward" by sharing what's she's learned through clinical practice and study.

Recently, a non-fiction follow up to her ealier book, The Special Educator: Stress and Survival(Aspen)has been added to the writing mix. The new book title is Defining a Self with a Smile.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT Texas Mystery!, September 8, 2009

By 

Antoinette J. Bailey "Toni Bailey" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Too Rich and Too Thin, Not an an Autobiography (Paperback)

This book kept me crazy because I did not want to put it down. It is funny to the point of hilarious (I can totally see this as a movie someday!), and yet quite a crazy mix of intrigue and pieces of Texas philsophy(eclectic Austin in particular) . I'm wondering if it IS a biography....it all sounds so Real....Barbara DeShong is certainly going to be one of my Favorite writers! I look forward to More of her books.

Toni Bailey
Oklahoma

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars `I just did not get this family.', July 30, 2010

By 

J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Too Rich and Too Thin, Not an an Autobiography (Paperback)

Meet Dr Jessica LaFave, Texas psychologist, police profiler and recent widow. Dr LaFave is excited: the murder of one of her husband's eccentric patients gives her an opportunity to search for her husband's killer. While everyone else believes that the death of psychiatrist Dr David LaFave was an accident, Jessica believes that it was murder and that it is linked to one of her husband's patients. `David's practice was loaded with high-profile Texans packing blackmail-worthy secrets.' So, when Bernice Jackson, rich and famous as a consequence of re-writing historical events into popular novels and movies, and her husband are found dead with their chests carved open. Jessica is sure that somewhere there is a connection between Bernice Jackson's murder and her husband's death.

The dysfunctional Jackson family has its own secrets, and the search for the truth takes Jessica LaFave on a bizarre and action-packed journey. At times the story seems a little too complicated and convoluted and while much of the detail is humorous and relevant in its own way, it can be overwhelming. I mostly enjoyed the over the top humour in this novel: there's no shortage of dysfunctional people with issues and there are plenty of improbable twists and turns in the story. If you can see humour in the ridiculous, then this mystery may be for you. It's fun. Seriously.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Delightful Read, January 2, 2010

By 

Debra Purdy Kong "Author of Casey Holland Tra... (British Columbia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Too Rich and Too Thin, Not an an Autobiography (Paperback)

Psychologist Jessica LeFave is still mourning the death of her husband, David, a few months earlier and frustrated that the police refuse to believe he was murdered. A chance to prove the truth comes unexpectedly when one of David's patients, (David was a psychiatrist) is murdered along with her husband, Harrell. Jessica thinks the murders are linked to David's death, but finding the truth isn't easy. Jackson offspring, Ruthie and Hank, are terribly messed up adults surrounded by people who may or may not have their best interests at heart. Jessica, however, is desperate and obsessed.

Too Rich & Too Thin takes the reader on a humorous adventure filled with mishaps as Jessica tries to investigate without much support from the police. On a deeper level, author Barbara DeShong explores the pain and anguish of family dysfunction, and the lengths some people will go to gain love, respect, and a positive self-image.

The novel was filled with entertaining, eccentric characters and this whodunit kept me guessing the killer's identity to the end. In hindsight, there were enough carefully plotted clues to have figured it out, but I'm just not much good at this. I loved Jessica and her best friend George, and hope to read about many more of her adventures in the future.