cover image How to Kill a Guy in 10 Days

How to Kill a Guy in 10 Days

Kayla Perrin, Brenda Mott, . . Avon, $13.95 (347pp) ISBN 978-0-06-088472-7

This breezy collaboration between Perrin (Sisters of Theta Phi Kappa ) and Mott (Man from Montana ), the first in a new series, introduces Lexie Muller and Hailey McGraw, 30-year-old high school best friends who reunite in Miami. After celebrating at a strip club, the two stumble on the body of a male stripper, whose female impersonator lover turns out to be related to Gina Coletti, owner of a used-book store about to go out of business. On impulse, Lexie and Hailey decide to buy the bookstore, but before they can throw the grand opening of Nothing but Lies (they sell only fiction), they find Gina’s bloody body in the store room. Not trusting the local authorities to solve either murder, the pair launch their own investigation, closely followed by a funny undercover cop with a crush on Hailey. Lexie, African-American city girl, and Hailey, Anglo country girl, alternate narratives nearly seamlessly in a cute chick lit debut that might better have been titled How to Catch a Killer and Open a Bookstore in 10 Days . (Aug.)