The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club: A Debutante Dropout Mystery

by Susan McBride

Book Overview

Andy Kendricks is back in the third sassy and irresistible installment in Susan McBride's Debutante Dropout series ... and this time she's teaming up with her high-society mama to catch a killer who's targeting rich, lonely widows.

Wealthy Texas widows need loving too ... 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...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060564083
• ISBN13: 9780060564087
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Andrea ends up helping Cissy solve a mystery this time

Andrea Kendricks doesn't want to be at Bebe Kent's memorial service, but her mother talked her into going to be her moral support. Bebe was one of her dear friends. After the service, Andrea's mother, Cissy, announces she believes Bebe was murdered. Andrea's afraid the grief is too much for Cissy. Bebe had recently moved into Belle Meade, a swanky retirement community. When Cissy takes her there, she runs into an old friend she hasn't seen for years. Then another resident is found dead. Another friend of Cissy's. Now Cissy is insistent that they were both murdered, even though there is no evidence to support her claims. Andrea agrees to help her mother prove it was murder to humor her. But as Cissy begins digging, Andrea realizes something is going on and joins in the investigation. Can they get to the truth without finding themselves pushing up daisies? I love this series. Andrea is such a fun character. I'm actually warming to her mother with each book. I'm not into the society scene. That's probably why I like Andrea so much. I thought this book was the best glimpse into the real Cissy and now I like her better. I really enjoyed the mystery in this book and the retirement community was a great backdrop. I highly recommend this book and the complete series.

What a GOOD book!

Her newest series ( this would be 3 in the series)is just great fun to read. The characters are so easy to like, the writing flows. Such pleasant reading here, I look forward to more!

Witty & Humorous

A big cheer for Susan McBride and The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club! The third installment in the Debutante Dropout books is a great addition to this series. I love the author's witty writing style and her true to life, yet, quirky characters she has created. The great dialog between Andy and Cissy, and humorous observations, provide plenty of laughs as they go through a slight role reversal of mother and daughter in this book. Cissy has a much larger role in this book than the previous two, which I was delighted to see with this character. Cissy is convinced her dearest friends were murdered because of the evidence she discovered, a nightgown and smudged lipstick. Andy, however, is not convinced of anything, except that her mother may have just flipped out under the stress of finding her friends dead. Andy does her best to humor her mother until the tests prove her friends deaths were from natural causes, while Cissy pushes forward to investigate with help from a reluctant Andy. When things aren't adding up like they should, Andy begins to realize Cissy might be closer to a truth no one wanted to believe, which could place Cissy right in the cross hairs of the killer. Susan McBride takes us on a great ride into her world, giving fans and new readers of the Deb Dropout Series a fun, often hysterical, and exciting journey for us to enjoy.

exciting amateur sleuth

Only for her mother will debutante dropout turned web designer Andy Kendricks attend the funeral of Cissy Kendrick's close friend Bebe Kent. After the funeral, they go to the memorial service held at the dead woman's residence in the exclusive assisted care facility Belle Mede. When Cissy learns that Bebe died in her pajamas she thinks that death listed as natural causes was really a homicide because the victim always slept in the nude. The facility is run by Annabelle who knew Andy when they went to an upscale camp for blue blooded rich kids. Annabelle and Cissy's daughter were close friends, two misfits who clung together for security. Cissy maneuvers Annabelle into letting her and Andy investigate Bebe's's death by posing as the new resident and her niece but on their first day in Bebe's home, another woman close to Cissy is found dead. Cissy believes that Sarah Lee Seville was also a homicide victim because her make up was smudged, something that she would fix immediately in case someone saw her. At first thinking her mother's grief is making her crazy, Andy finally comes around to her view point because there are too many links between the two dead women. Nobody, least of all Andy, thought that Cissy would be in danger from the killer. Susan McBride infuses her exciting amateur sleuth mystery with a gallows's humor that is both appropriate and funny in a macabre sort of way. Although Andy thinks her mother is wrong in her description that murder took the lives of her two friends, the love she feels for Cissy compels her to find out if there is any evidence to support her theory . This down home Texas mystery is enjoyable, entertaining and riddled with red herrings and unexpected plot twists. Harriet Klausner

Another great story.

Things have gotten antsy for Andrea Kendricks (the debutante dropout) once again. Her mother, Cissy, is upset when her best friend dies. But Cissy does not believe that her friend, Bebe, died in her sleep as everyone says she did. Why? Because Bebe had on a nightgown. Then another friend, Sarah Lee, dies. Cissy is positive it is foul play because of Sarah Lee's lipstick. Andrea is beginning to believe her mother has flipped her lid. Andrea is certain of it when she discovers that her mother has disguised herself to look older and has become a new resident in the posh retirement community of her deceased friends. **** Author Susan McBride has written another great mystery that will have her readers scratching their heads as they try to figure out what is going on. From previous books, I knew that Andrea had an odd way of life and of viewing it all, but this story shows that the apple did not fall far from the family tree. The mother and daughter characters are very well developed. Had the situation been real, instead of fictional, I've no doubt the reactions would be exactly as McBride spells them out. The author's sense of humor is utterly delightful and gives everything a little twist with the witty banter. Terrific book that I recommend to all mystery fans! **** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.