Blue Blood (Debutante Dropout Mysteries, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Susan McBride (Author) "Music played in the background, a soft tinkling of piano keys that filtered into the yellow-walled dining room at the palm, a swanky restaurant with..." (more)
Key Phrases: bank bag, scholarship girl, Jim Bob, Bud Hartman, Peggy Martin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Susan McBride kept me laughing all the way through this delicious romp of a mystery." (Tess Gerritsen )

"BLUE BLOOD is a wry, dead-on social commentary masquerading as a can't-put-it-down mystery. Highly recommended...." (John Westermann )

"Susan McBride has an engaging new heroine in Andrea Kendricks." (Thomas Perry )

"Andrea Kendricks...is a treasure." (Charlaine Harris )

"BLUE BLOOD has it all--suspense, humor, friendship, snobbery and televangelists...BLUE BLOOD is positively gripping." (Sarah Strohmeyer )

"Off to a smashing start...keeps the reader smiling." (Monterey County Post )

"A totally fun ride...McBride has created a fresh new voice that fans of the genre undoubtedly will enjoy." (Romantic Times BOOKclub )

"BLUE BLOOD is delightful, witty and oh-so-proper (not!). Susan McBride has Dallas society on its designer-clad toes!" (Carolyn Tillery, Society Editor, Park Cities People )

"All mystery readers should applaud!" (Jerrilyn Farmer )

"A very witty and clever mystery...I, for one, can't wait for the next installment." (Sauce Magazine (St. Louis) )

"McBride has created a delightfully wacky amateur detective in BLUE BLOOD. The writing is fresh, funny, and entertaining." (Wichita Eagle )

Product Description

To the dismay of her high society motherCissy, Dallas heiress Andy Kendricks wantsno 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 is soon bringing 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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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 333 pages
• Publisher: Avon; 1st edition (January 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060563893
• ISBN-13: 978-0060563899
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #103,695 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 1 in The Debutante Dropout Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun read but unchallenging as a mystery, March 1, 2004

By	Maddi Hausmann Sojourner "madhaus" (Silicon Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

_Blue Blood_ is an amusing little story with an interesting narrator. Andy (Andrea) Kendricks is an upper-crust Texas society girl, who decides that charity events, fund-raising, and hunt balls are not her thing, and declines to "come out" despite her mother's plans. Now she's living the "normal" life, despite her mom's attempts to pull her back into the society whirl.

Andy's mom, Cissy Blevins Kendricks, is formidable; doing everything she can to introduce Andy to the "right" people, especially the right husband. The book begins with Andy in a restaurant with her mother and yet another prospective beau; the evening was presented to Andy as a "night out with just us girls." Andy is unstoppable in her own way: she will smile at her mother but do things her own way and in her own good time.

Then Andy hears from her best friend from her prep school days. Molly never fit in either, being the "scholarship girl" from a series of foster homes. The girls went off to art college together but Molly ran off to Paris with her boyfriend, got pregnant, and was dumped. Ten years later, Molly is calling Andy for help: she is accused of murdering her boss at the restaurant where she worked as a waitress. The restaurant is a hillbilly version of Hooters, and the boss not only hit on the staff frequently, he seemed to have plenty of enemies. But the police are convinced that they have arrested the culprit and Molly is denied bail, leaving Andy to take care of Molly's young son.

Andy isn't an investigator, she's a website designer. She asks her mother to hire a lawyer for Molly, and mother reluctantly complies. But the young man doesn't believe Molly is innocent, and doesn't seem to be trying very hard to help her. So it's up to Andy to find the real killer.

I enjoyed McBride's descriptions and characters more than the underlying mystery. Andy is haunted by her father's untimely death (right before her planned debut), and clearly has more in common with him than her society mother. But there weren't enough possible killers in the book to mislead me, the mark of a good whodunnit. I was able to identify the guilty party far sooner than I should have because one clue was far too obvious. The bad guys were coarsely drawn, with little nuance or any redeeming features. And too many intermediate clues were clear to the reader well before Andy picked up on them. I also felt McBride didn't convince me of Andy's expertise in her career as a website designer. Someone comfortable with digital photography and HTML code (or even MS FrontPage) should have had more computer skills and savvy than Andy ever demonstrated. The book could have worked just as well with Andy as a freelance writer or an accountant without changing anything else in the plot!

This a good, mindless, fun read, suitable for beaches or airplanes. But as a mystery it is lacking. mad-haus 1 March 2004

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DON'T MISS THIS ONE!, January 31, 2004

By	Elaine Flinn "MysteryMama" (Salinas, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

This new series is definitely a winner! Andy Kendricks is a gal we'd all love to have for a friend. Especially if we get into trouble! The lengths Andy goes to for her friend Molly is incredible and more fun than I can say without giving the plot away. Andy's mother is a hoot, and I hope she appears in each sequel. Don't miss this! BLUE BLOOD will keep you turning pages with a smile on your face. I read this in two sittings, that's how much I loved it!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Snicker out loud, March 19, 2004

By	booksforabuck "BooksForABuck.com" (Dallas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Drop-out debutante Andrea "Andy" Kendrick receives a plea out of the blue from her former best friend from prep school. Molly O'Brien, whom Andy's high-society mother, Cissy, calls "that scholarship girl," has been arrested for murder and she wants Andy to take care of her little boy.

Though Andy hasn't heard from Molly in ten years, she jumps into the fray--rescuing the boy (and dumping him at her mother's Highland Park mansion, much to Cissy's dismay). She just knows Molly could never possibly kill someone under any circumstances, and she is determined to prove her friend's innocence. With the help of Molly's inexperienced (but cute) lawyer, Andy delves into the mystery, going so far as to get herself hired at the "Hooters"-type restaurant where the murder took place, and where Molly worked as a waitress. In purple hot pants and a stuffed bra, she gathers the evidence against the suspects, which include a randy televangelist, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, a rabid activist who regularly pickets the restaurant, a mysterious silent partner, and a host of sexually harassed waitresses.

This is a cute read, with an amusingly eccentric cast of characters. Though I felt Andy was inexcusably reckless at times (like when she barges into a motel room where she knows the possible murderer is having illicit sex), I couldn't help cheering for her. And though the humor felt a bit forced in places, I did snicker out loud several times. This is a must-read for anyone within or on the fringes of Dallas high society. The author certainly nails that world.