Rating: 
Summary: Sheer Pleasure
Review: A friend loaned me this book and I am so glad she did. I became thoroughly involved in the story. The characters were believable and made me want to get to know them better. I highly recommend this book and I am looking forward to Ms. McBride's next "drop-out debutant" mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: refreshing and entertaining amateur sleuth
Review: Although she grew up with a silver spoon in her, mouth Andrea Kendricks prefers stainless steel. She was a debutante drop out who never came was presented to society and works for a living instead of relying on her trust fund. Although she went to a preppy private school, her best friend was scholarship student Molly O?Brien who was raised not in a manor like Andrea, but in a series of foster homes.The two friends went to the same middle class college together before Molly dropped out to follow her artist boyfriend to Europe. Andrea had not heard from Molly for over a decade when she calls up to ask her to take care of her son because she is in jail on a murder charge. When Andrea visits Molly in jail and hears her story, she knows Molly is no killer and sets out to prove it by going undercover at Juggs where the waitress dress in the bare minimum. Since it was Molly?s boss who was killed, Andrea figures she has a very good chance of finding out who wanted the owner dead. Her allies in their endeavor turn out to be Molly?s cute lawyer and Andrea?s sociable mother. BLUE BLOOD is a refreshing and entertaining amateur sleuth tale starring a blue-blooded heroine who embraces the middle class lifestyle. She is the type of woman people want as a best friend; a person who loves her mother even if she dislikes her mom?s lifestyle and who will go the extra mile for a friend she has not seen in years. Susan McBride has written a who-done-it that will appeal to a broad base of mystery fans and will be the winner of many awards because this book is a gem.. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: refreshing and entertaining amateur sleuth
Review: Although she grew up with a silver spoon in her, mouth Andrea Kendricks prefers stainless steel. She was a debutante drop out who never came was presented to society and works for a living instead of relying on her trust fund. Although she went to a preppy private school, her best friend was scholarship student Molly O'Brien who was raised not in a manor like Andrea, but in a series of foster homes. The two friends went to the same middle class college together before Molly dropped out to follow her artist boyfriend to Europe. Andrea had not heard from Molly for over a decade when she calls up to ask her to take care of her son because she is in jail on a murder charge. When Andrea visits Molly in jail and hears her story, she knows Molly is no killer and sets out to prove it by going undercover at Juggs where the waitress dress in the bare minimum. Since it was Molly's boss who was killed, Andrea figures she has a very good chance of finding out who wanted the owner dead. Her allies in their endeavor turn out to be Molly's cute lawyer and Andrea's sociable mother. BLUE BLOOD is a refreshing and entertaining amateur sleuth tale starring a blue-blooded heroine who embraces the middle class lifestyle. She is the type of woman people want as a best friend; a person who loves her mother even if she dislikes her mom's lifestyle and who will go the extra mile for a friend she has not seen in years. Susan McBride has written a who-done-it that will appeal to a broad base of mystery fans and will be the winner of many awards because this book is a gem.. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Oh yeah!
Review: Andrea "Andy" Kendricks had never been the deb her mother, Cissy Kendricks, had hoped for. Andy was a web designer who enjoyed taking care of herself and living in a small place, rather than being pampered and living in a mansion. When Andy's old college roommate, Molly O'Brien, was accused of killing her boss, Bud, Andy rushed to help. Molly had worked at Jugs, a type of restaurant where the waitresses made those at Hooters look like children. To prove Molly innocent, Andy must go undercover...padded bras, tight pants, layers of cosmetics, and all! **** This is the first of a new mystery series. The author gives the reader a bit of humor to tweak the seriousness of typical mysteries. The result is a delightful new type of mystery that will entice its readers and leave them eager to see what Andrea will do next. Recommended! **** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
Rating:
Summary: A great chick-lit mystery
Review: Andy Kendrick receives a desperate call from Molly O'Brien. She hasn't seen or heard from Molly for ten years. They were best friends in school even though they were not of the same social class. Molly was a scholarship student. Andy was a debutate, although she never really ran in her mother's high society circles and is now a debutante dropout.
Molly is being charged with murdering her boss, Bud Hartman. She asks Andy to help her out. Andy gets her mother Cissy, much to her chagrin, to call a lawyer for Molly. Andy ends up dropping off Molly's six-year-old son David at Cissy's doorstep while she tries to help get Molly out of jail.
Brian Malone does not impress Andy as a go-getter attorney. She doesn't feel he is really looking out for Molly's best interests. So, Andy decides to go under cover as a waitress at Jugs, a Hooters-type restaurant, where Molly had worked. For some reason Julie, Bud's girlfriend who now runs Jugs, takes a liking to Andy. She ends up inviting her to Bud's funeral. Why would Reverend Jim-Bob, a well-known televangelist be willing to preside over Bud's funeral?
Then there's the Mothers Against Pornography run by nurse Peggy Martin. Why is she so adamant against Jugs?
Where is this waitress that left overnight a few weeks before? Why did she leave and never even return for her paycheck?
Andy finds herself in some interesting and even dangerous situations as she tries to discover who really killed Bud and framed Molly.
This is the first book I've read in this series, but it won't be the last. I truly enjoyed Andy and her antics. I think she and Malone will make a good team in future books. They feed off each other really well. Her mother really adds character to the story as well. I found myself laughing out loud several times while reading this book. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: Andy Kendricks has decided to not follow in her mother's footsteps and become a debutante. Instead, Andy is satisfied with her comfortable job as a website designer and small living space. Andy is also known for her loyalty so it's not a shock that her old friend, Molly, comes to her for help. Molly has been accused of a murder that she insists she didn't do. Andy is able to have her mother hire a lawyer for Molly but he doesn't believe in her innocence so Andy decides to take matters into her own hands. She begins an investigation that, if she is not careful, could cost her her life.
Blue Blood is vastly different from Susan McBride's previous work and it proves that she can write on both sides of the spectrum. Blue Blood is a wonderful book filled with the best characters that I have come across. Andy is not only a person that I enjoy reading about, she is someone to admire. Every aspect of this book is fine tuned to perfection. I can't wait for the next book in the series and I look forward to the success that Susan McBride should enjoy from this book.
Rating:
Summary: Snicker out loud
Review: Drop-out debutante Andrea "Andy" Kendrick receives a plea out of the blue from her former best friend from prep school. Molly O'Brien, whom Andy's high-society mother, Cissy, calls "that scholarship girl," has been arrested for murder and she wants Andy to take care of her little boy. Though Andy hasn't heard from Molly in ten years, she jumps into the fray--rescuing the boy (and dumping him at her mother's Highland Park mansion, much to Cissy's dismay). She just knows Molly could never possibly kill someone under any circumstances, and she is determined to prove her friend's innocence. With the help of Molly's inexperienced (but cute) lawyer, Andy delves into the mystery, going so far as to get herself hired at the "Hooters"-type restaurant where the murder took place, and where Molly worked as a waitress. In purple hot pants and a stuffed bra, she gathers the evidence against the suspects, which include a randy televangelist, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, a rabid activist who regularly pickets the restaurant, a mysterious silent partner, and a host of sexually harassed waitresses. This is a cute read, with an amusingly eccentric cast of characters. Though I felt Andy was inexcusably reckless at times (like when she barges into a motel room where she knows the possible murderer is having illicit sex), I couldn't help cheering for her. And though the humor felt a bit forced in places, I did snicker out loud several times. This is a must-read for anyone within or on the fringes of Dallas high society. The author certainly nails that world.
Rating:
Summary: A delicious mother-daughter battle and great mystery
Review: Kids today. You raise them to be Vera Wang-wearing debs in Dallas society, handpick them to star in charity fashion shows, and arrange blind dates with Ph.D.s who play the pipe organ for the Pope. And what do they do? They don lavender hot pants and whoop it up at a den of iniquity called Jugs, where guys go who, in the words of Mothers Against Pornography ringleader Peggy Martin, "get their ideas about relationships from dirty magazines, from strip joints," and apparently, from Janet Jackson too. Just ask Cissy Blevins Kendricks. The charity-loving smooth-talking secretly softhearted matron is the spiritual sister to Kitty Montgomery of "Dharma and Greg," right down to the Ferragamo shoes.
Cissy's hot pants-wearing daughter, artist and Web designer Andrea, has more sense than Dharma but as great a knack for trouble. The plot centers on Andrea's undercover activities at the Hooters-type joint Jugs, where Andrea's "scholarship girl" friend, single mom Molly O'Brien, supposedly killed Larry Flynt wannabe Bud Hartman.
The real heart of the story is Andrea's complex relationship with Cissy. Blue blood really is thicker than sparkling water. It would be easy to peg Cissy as just another snobby society matron, and although there's plenty of social satire here, Susan McBride never sacrifices character or the bittersweet warmth of the mother-daughter relationship. Two pink high-tops up!
Rating:
Summary: I'm looking forward to the next Debutant Dropout Mystery!
Review: One of the strongest ties binding women is the basis of Blue Blood, friendship. I know it's cliché but not even time and space can affect it. Women have a way of picking up where they left off, even after many years apart. Women don't forget as is the case of Andrea "Andy" Kendricks and Molly McBride. According to Andy, their friendship was so strong because they envied one another, "which sealed our friendship tighter than spit or blood."
They met in the awkwards of high school. Andrea from the prim and proper high society and Molly from a low income family. Molly was the private and posh Hockaday School's charity case, having won a scholarship to attend.
After high school they shared a flat while attending an arts school in Columbia College. Andy finished and became a web designer but Molly ran off with the dark and mysterious Sebastian to Paris. Their relationship teetered off like most long distant friendships.
After ten years of separation Andy gets a desperate call from Molly. She needs help pronto. She's been arrested for the murder of her boss and her son David is stranded at the neighbor's. Wow. So much for "Hello, how are you?" Andy doesn't think twice but jumps into action. Her first priority is getting Molly a lawyer. Who better to enlist a lawyer than her socialite extraordinaire mother, Cissy. The fact she'll owe her mother big time doesn't stop her from making the call. Her mother is hesitant to help at first but as the novel progresses it's easy to see she's having fun with her daughter.
As I mentioned, Cissy is quite the socialite. Her full-time job is volunteering for causes and trying to get Andrea married, much to Andrea's chagrin. She discourages Andy's escapades but she is always there to provide money, a ride, a phone call to a high ranking member of society or to take in Molly's son David.
With the lawyer and sitter taken care of Andy has time to get down to business. Clearing Molly's name. Why? Because the police have already decided Molly's the criminal. All evidence points to her. Andy doesn't believe it for a second and sets out to find the real killer by going undercover at Molly's place of employment. Wait for it...as a waitress at "Jugs". That alone was a hilarity.
Susan McBride has created interesting characters that are easy to love (like the shy lawyer hired to help Molly) and a mystery that keeps you guessing until the final chapter. Blue Blood begins with a prologue introducing Molly seconds before her slimy boss corners her after hours. Once you start reading you'll want to know more.
What impressed me the most about this Chic Lit mystery was the story wasn't lost amongst "poor me" dialogue and a whole lot of hot and heavy side relationships with constant interruptions. The story focuses on the mystery, the friendships (new and old) and family. "Blue Blood" is really about solving the mystery with mild comic relief in between. Blonde moments ensue but not to the detriment of the story. They're more of an interesting sidebar than a distraction.
Andy is a role model for young girls and women. She's educated, loyal and willing to try any thing once as she follows her dreams. She's a no regrets kind of gal. Blue Blood is the first in "a debutant dropout mystery" and I'm looking forward to the next Nancy Drew moment Andy rushes into.
Review Originally Posted at http://www.linearreflections.com
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME Debut Novel - First in Anticipated New Series
Review: Sheer delight to read. Enticing from the first chapter and keeps you reading. A great "Who Dunnit" which will suprise you at the end who the actual killer is. GREAT and a definate must read. Author Susan McGrath is a delight. She's written back to me to let me know that her 2nd installment to this new series "THE GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER", will be out in February of 2005. I can't wait. Please DO buy this book, you will not be disappointed!
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