MURDER GETS A MAKEOVER
by Laura Levine
An unwanted makeover gets a freelance writer into a world of trouble.
Maybe it’s her messy curls. Maybe it’s her favorite CUCKOO FOR COCOA PUFFS T-shirt. Whatever the reason, shoe salesman Lance Venable is convinced that his neighbor Jaine Austen would be the perfect guinea pig for his Neiman Marcus customer Bebe Braddock’s proposed fashion transformation. Jaine agrees, however grudgingly, to take time from working on her ad campaign for Tip Top DryCleaners to go for a tryout to the stylist’s posh Brentwood digs, where Bebe is predictably patronizing. But she has limited time to torment Jaine for her frumpiness because on a follow-up visit, Jaine finds Bebe’s corpse with a wire hanger wrapped around her throat. Since Bebe was a bitch to everyone, there are suspects aplenty: Anna, her seamstress; Heidi, her hairstylist; even Miles, her husband. But the police zero in on Jaine, probably because her fingerprints are all over the murder weapon. (Well, she had to check for a pulse, didn’t she?) Now not even the dinner invitations from Bebe’s handsome assistant, Justin, can make her anything but sorry she agreed to this makeover. But it’s too late to escape. If she doesn’t find out who killed Bebe, her next statement outfit will be an orange jumpsuit.
As always, Levine’s spunky heroine gets the last laugh.