Belle Meade is a luxuriously well appointed retirement community that has a rather lengthy list of people waiting for a vacancy shall we say. It appears that the list will be opened for some recently vacated units. Two members of Cissy Blevins Kendrick's Wednesday bridge club have been discovered dead in their respective units at Belle Meade. Cissy is understandably distraught over their untimely death. Well, distraught is perhaps the wrong word to describe her reaction to their deaths -- angry and suspicious would work better. Who better to help Cissy get to the bottom of the deaths, or murders, of her two friends then daughter Andrea. Andy is an artist and web designer who fashions her life as far from the Dallas debutante that her mother would covet as possible.

Following the funerals of Bebe Kent and Sarah Lee Sewell, Cissy and Andy approach Annabelle Meade, the owner of Belle Meade with their suspicions that the deaths were anything but natural. After all Bebe wouldn't be caught dead -- pardon the pun -- wearing a frothy nightgown. And Sarah Lee, well let's just say she was fastidious about her lipstick. From that point on, donning a most outlandish disguise and assuming an amazing and equally outlandish background the two set off to find out just what happened to these two friends and the list of suspects gets more interesting as they go. Using just simple everyday logic mixed with an equal measure of zaniness this mother and daughter team become a force to reckon with as they add up the list of clues.

This latest escapade of Susan McBride's is a joyful romp of a murder mystery. She takes a somber task of ferreting out the murderer and mixes in some wonderfully comic scenes that result in a delightful read. Sure you are relieved at the end when the culprit is uncovered but you have enjoyed following the rather unconventional investigation. This is a quick read from start to finish with the reader taking a few laugh breaks along the way.

Book Summary

...which is why Bebe Kent joined a dating service for "discriminating" seniors soon after relocating to the swanky Belle Meade retirement community. Unfortunately, Bebe didn't live long enough to meet "Mr. Right." And though doctors declared her death totally natural, extravagant blue- blooded Dallas socialite Cissy Blevins Kendricks believes her old friend's demise was hastened -- and she's ready to check herself into Belle Meade incognito to prove it.

Cissy's rebellious, sometime-sleuthing daughter, Andrea, wants no part of her mother's glittering social whirl -- and she's anything but pleased to have Cissy muscle her way into Andy's milieu. She has no choice, however, but to join her mom in search of the truth -- especially when more well-heeled widows start turning up dead...