Dallas, Texas – Present Day

Andrea Kendrick just wants to lead a normal life and hang out with her boyfriend, Malone. But she seems to get dragged into trouble despite her best intentions. Her friend, Janet, a society reporter, has talked Andy into attending a “Pretty Party” with her. A “Pretty Party” is where Doctor Sonja Madhavi plies her trade injecting Botox and other assorted chemicals into the wealthy and privileged in Dallas. During the party, Miranda DuBois bursts in waving a gun…and blaming Doctor Sonja for the ruin of her face and her life. Miranda’s shot goes astray and no one is injured, and the distraught and drunk Miranda is taken to her home by Andy. Andy hesitates to leave the woman alone, but figures she’s passed out and will be fine until the morning. After making sure Miranda is comfortable, Andy locks up and heads home.

The next morning when Andy goes to check on Miranda, she finds the apartment swarming with police and Miranda dead – an apparent suicide with her own gun. Except, Andy is pretty sure Miranda dropped the gun at the party, and she knows she locked her up the house. However, after giving her statement to the police, Andy plans to stay out of it. Then Andy’s mother, Cissy, gets involved and hires a private investigator, and Janet decides there is more to the story than meets the eye, and now Andy is neck deep in conspiracy theories.

From murder to mayhem, the pages of TOO PRETTY TO DIE fly. Andy is not a common heroine. She’s got issues with her mother and tends to let others dictate what she does, though she purports to be independent. She’s likable if a bit unlikely. Secondary characters each play a unique roll in the story, but more as the catalyst to Andy’s problems or foils for her to play against. Outside of Andy, Malone, and Fletch, most of the characters seemed to be lightly drawn and stereotypical of the depiction of the ultra rich.

The mystery is well developed, and I was a bit surprised at the denouement of the murderer. The dialogue is crisp, though I found a few of the scenes in the book a bit jarring -- for instance, when Andy first meets the private investigator, Milton Fletcher, “call me Fletch,” there seems to be some kind of chemistry between them as they immediately begin to insult each other. This makes Malone jealous and yet it really served no purpose in the story.

Overall, TOO PRETTY TO DIE is a nice light mystery, and readers will appreciate the irony of the too rich and too thin always looking for the next fountain of youth.

Terrie Figueroa