Death of a Bachelorette: A Jaine Austen Mystery

Jaine Austen thinks she has finally hit the big time in Levine’s lighthearted 15th mystery featuring the L.A. freelance writer (after 2016’s Murder Has Nine Lives). She has landed a scriptwriting gig on Some Day My Prince Will Come, a reality TV show set on Paratito Island, just a short hop from Tahiti. Three bachelorettes will vie for the affections of Spencer Dalworth VII, Earl of Swampshire. Unfortunately, Paratito is a festering backwater, the bachelorettes are scheming harpies, and Spencer is an inarticulate dope. Things really go south when bachelorette Hope Harper goes skydiving with a sabotaged parachute and plunges to her death. Another bachelorette is arrested for the deed, but Jaine is convinced she isn’t guilty and begins her own investigation. Which isn’t easy, considering that she also has to keep her escape artist kitty, Prozac, out of trouble, and get out of her accidental engagement to toothless King Konga of Paratito. Plenty of slapstick humor makes up for the lack of plausibility and character development. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency. (July)