New York City, New York - Present Day

A former pop-singer, now a thirty-year-old college student, Heather Wells thinks her life is settling down nicely. She is an assistant dorm director illicitly dating her math professor, Tad Tocco. Tad is a super-hot fitness buff who has Heather training for a run (uh, sort of) and eating a rigorously health-conscious diet (not!). A small part of Heather is also hoping that her neighbor and the man she truly loves, private detective Cooper Cartwright, will notice that she is happily dating and regret telling her that he didn't want to be her rebound guy. When she finds her third boss in one year face-down dead on his desk, Heather can't quite believe it. While she definitely didn't like Dr. Owen Veatch, Heather doesn't think he deserved to be shot in the head. Fischer Hall already has the reputation of being Death Dorm, and now it is short a director, leaving Heather in charge.

When the Graduate Student Collective, unhappy with its benefits package, decides to strike, and then Heather's father starts badgering her to re-enter the music business, her life is back to crazy business as usual. Trying to protect her residents, fill strike vacated jobs, gain Cooper's attention, solve a murder, restart her career, get in shape for a 5k run, maintain a 1,500-calorie-per-day diet, and keep from getting killed may be too much for even Heather to accomplish.

Complications and twists come from Sebastian Blumenthal, Graduate Student Collective leader; Sarah, a grad student employee; Pam Veatch, ex-wife of the dead director; and Mark Halstead, a perverted pastor. Many other secondary characters add humor, angst, and red herrings.

BIG BONED is a laugh-out-loud look at college life, romance, and murder. Heather is an upbeat heroine trying to become the person Tad wants her to be, even when she believes her uterus has jiggled out during the world's shortest jog, all the while pining for Cooper. Cooper is definitely acting strangely, and Heather isn't quite sure how to interpret his actions. The private detective orders her to keep out of the investigation, hovers protectively, and is pressuring her to decide if she is going to still live with him or move out. Crisp writing, memorable characters, and a slightly screwed-up college setting make for a perfect slapstick mystery. Readers won't want to miss BIG BONED, a funny, endearing, and romantic story.

Jennell