Going Out in Style

Stylist Dallas O'Connor, who arranges fashion shoots for a major Dallas, Tex., department store, makes a charming debut in this light, fast-paced mystery. A hectic and sometimes chaotic life hardly prepares Dallas for finding a knife-wielding man next to a young model's dead body on the set of an upcoming photo shoot. The man--Cuban photographer Raul Domingo--protests his innocence, claiming that he picked up the knife accidentally. After learning that the police view her as the chief suspect, Dallas agrees to join Raul in a hunt for some photos that they hope will clear them both of the murder charge. While they're searching the files of a famous photographer inside his studio, however, someone sets fire to the place. Now Dallas's life gets even more complicated, as an on-the-scene news camera catches her and Raul running from the burning building. Convinced that her good friend and agent, Leo, will come to her aid, Dallas is horrified when he winds up dead. Who would brutally murder a model and a fashion agent? Only after a few makeovers for herself and Raul and with the help of some amazingly adaptive friends do Dallas and Raul identify and rope in the guilty party. Readers will be pleased to find that, along the way, Dallas from Dallas never loses her sense of humor. (July) FYI: Green has written three historical novels as Suzanne Frank.