McBride's second Debutante Dropout mystery (after Blue Blood
) proves as alluring as an Estrada evening dress and as tempting as a slice of death-by-chocolate cake served by the exclusive Dallas Diet Club. The incorrigible Cissy Blevins hasn't given up on restoring daughter Andrea "Andy" Blevins Kendricks, who forsook her debutante season for art school in Chicago and a career as a Webmaster, to her rightful place in society. So when the new TV series The Sweet Life
, starring Marilee Mabry, a Texan version of Martha Stewart, has an opening for a Webmaster, Cissy seizes the chance to advance her daughter. With disdain for Dallas high society but an enduring love for her meddlesome mother, Andy serves as the perfect guide to a lifestyle that's the contemporary Texas equivalent of upper-crust Regency. When Andy discovers Marilee's 18-year-old daughter, Kendall, near death on the night of her mother's grand TV debut, the fun really begins. The suspense builds as the do-gooder Webmaster unearths some unpleasant truths about Marilee, Kendall and their shared boy toy and personal trainer, Justin Gable. Though the mystery falters near the end, delicious dishing on social secretaries, Persian rugs and society rags more than compensates. Agent, Victoria Sanders. (Feb.)
