Blue Blood

Molly O’Brien had a tough life after she chose to drop her fashion design classes at the Columbia College in Chicago where she shared a room with her best friend Andy Kendricks from Texas. They met at school when foster child Molly was admitted to a prestigious school for wealthy kids through a scholarship. An illustrious affair with a Hemmingway wanne-be convinced Molly that love could conquer all. She followed him to Paris, fell pregnant, got dropped and had to move back to Texas, where she found a job at the hot-spot restaurant "Jugs".

She is accused of murdering the owner, Bud Hartman, and desperate for help, contacts Andy, whom she hasn't seen for ten years.

Rebellious Andy immediately steps in to help the only real friend she show more ever had. The friendship was not exactly what Andy's mother, Cissy, a Texan high-society dame, had in mind for her heiress daughter. Molly was from the wrong side of the tracks. But Andy made it her mission to buck the system her whole life, like refusing to be a debutante on her 18th birthday, and studying graphic design and computers when she, as a trust fund baby, never had to work.

With her unending love for Nancy Drew and the television series Law & Order, Andy gets to work on solving the murder mystery. Any bra size is possible with the right shoulder pads strategically positioned. Combined with serious hot pants, she did not have much trouble in getting a job at "Jugs" as a waitress to try and find the real killers of the dangerous owner.

"Jugs" is more than just eye candy for men, thorns in the eyes of the Mother of Porn - ladies, the Women’s Wellness Clinic, and points of interested to Reverend Jim Bob.`

There is a lot of appetites to be satisfied in the ensuing drama, adventure, and mystery. As Dolly Parton can attest to: Jugs can be a lot more than weapons of mass distraction and feisty Andy knows how to achieve just that!

My comments: It's a chic-lit book for young women, containing all the elements to demarcate the target audience perfectly. All the young women who ever played a role as a PI, especially a contemporary element of Nancy Drew, are included. The background includes a touch of a Paris Hilton, the reality tv-series The Reals Housewives of Texas, and a similarity with the restaurant-chain Shooters. It is a delightful, enchanting and fun read. There's lots of love lost, but for various reasons other than romance!

Oh, I identified the murderer right from the start. It felt good for a change!

Star rating:
Plot 1; drama 1; character building 1; satire 1; social comment 1. Five stars in this genre.

In fact, I enjoyed it so much, it was presented in such good taste, I would love to read more in this Debutante Dropout Series of 5 books: Blue Blood (#1); The Good Girl's Guide To Murder (#2); The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club (#3); Night of the Living Deb (#4); Too Pretty to Die (#5).

Yes, imagine me enjoying this genre! Unthinkable, but very true in this case!

ARC received from edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com

Original review can be viewed at: http://something-wordy-reviews.blogspot.com/2013/12/blue-blood-by-susan-macbride... show less

As with most amateur detective stories, I had to work a little at suspending my disbelief over the web-designer heroine getting involved in the search for a murderer in order to clear her long-lost friend, but once I did, I enjoyed the book overall. (And I must say that I kind of liked she was a trust fund baby who could pretty much decide what she wanted to do with her day. Gives much more credence to stopping everything to take this on.)

Mystery-wise, it wasn't bad at all. I had a sense of who the murderer was, but I didn't feel like it was overly obvious. I liked the heroine -- there were a couple of laugh out loud moments -- and I enjoyed the other characters. (The mom was my favorite, I had to admit.) The ending did try my patience show more a bit -- I can buy the whole putting yourself in jeopardy thing once, but twice was annoying. As the first in a series, however, I'm definitely up for the next one. show less

Andy is a web designer who tries to live within her means and avoid the social complications of her priviledged family in the Park Cities, Dallas' most prestigious area. Her mother, Cissy is determined to draw her back into society. When a friend from school is implicated in a murder, Andy jumps in to help clear her.

This is the first of the Debutante Dropout Mysteries and like most cozy mysteries is character driven more than plot driven. I enjoyed the characters, particularly Cissy, who is a classic strong southern woman.

Interesting up to a point. Took a while for me to get into the storyline. It also sounds like this rich girl's life was a bit on the boring side too. Will read another to see if it gets better.

Cute and fun but not real deep.

I loved this book and was very happy to hear that it was part of a series. I have the other books in my TBR pile and know I will enjoy them when I get to them.

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