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

Author - Susan McBride ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Mass Market Paperback Book item from Avon was reviewed on 10-Dec-2008.

Search ISBN:0060846011 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Too Pretty to Die (Debutant Dropout Mysteries, No. 5) Reference Book. Classifications : General Mystery & Thrillers 4-for-3 Books Store Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books General Mystery Mystery & Thrillers 4-for-3 Books Store Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books Women Sleuths Mystery . Click the following link to view the cover of Too Pretty to Die (Debutant Dropout Mysteries, No. 5).

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1) Mass Market Paperback Book Too Pretty to Die (Debutant Dropout Mysteries, No. 5) by Avon. 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.¤

2) Mass Market Paperback Book Too Pretty to Die (Debutant Dropout Mysteries, No. 5) by Avon. 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
¤

3) Mass Market Paperback Book Too Pretty to Die (Debutant Dropout Mysteries, No. 5) by Avon. 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.¤

4) Mass Market Paperback Book Too Pretty to Die (Debutant Dropout Mysteries, No. 5) by Avon. I´m up to page 197 & still waiting for something to happen. Nothing but talk, talk, talk. What a loong, stretched out story! Might have been better with 100 less pages & more action, not to mention humor.¤

5) Mass Market Paperback Book Too Pretty to Die (Debutant Dropout Mysteries, No. 5) by Avon. 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.¤

6) Mass Market Paperback Book Too Pretty to Die (Debutant Dropout Mysteries, No. 5) by Avon.

They call them "pretty parties," and they´re the latest rage among Dallas debutantes—get-togethers with light refreshments, heavy gossip, and Dr. Sonja Madhavi and her magic Botox needles. Former socialite Andy Kendricks normally wouldn´t be caught dead at such an event, but she´s attending as a favor to her friend Janet, a society reporter in search of a juicy story. And boy does she find one when aging beauty queen Miranda DuBois bursts into the room—drunk, disorderly, and packing a pistol.

Miranda´s wrinkles have seen better days, and she blames it all on Dr. Madhavi. Luckily, Andy calms her down and gets her home to bed . . . where she´s found dead the next morning. The police suspect suicide, but Andy knows that no former pageant girl would give up that easily. She´s determined to find Miranda´s killer herself, but she´ll have to be careful. After all, Botox can make you look younger, but it can´t bring you back from the grave.

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 7-Jan-2009, 00608460119780060846015, 540-110-940-300-830-44B-8

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