Malone came from behind me. “Mom and Dad?”
Mom and Dad?
My brain went suddenly dead, throwing my pulse into “panic.”
“Allison Price left a message with Pam at the office, said it was urgent, that you were in trouble, and to get down to Dallas ASAP.” The gray-streaked brunette with my boyfriend’s gaze cocked her head like a curious poodle.
“She gave us this address for Andrea, so pleased to meet you, and what a pretty thing”—a smile flickered on her face—“though I’m told you don’t have pets, eh? We’ll have to fix that someday.” Then back to Brian, “We came as soon as we could get away. Are you okay? What happened to your face? Allison’s message said you’d vanished, or some such thing. Were you on a vacation?”
Malone’s father scratched behind his ear but didn’t speak.
Had he picked up bugs on their pet retreat?
I stood numbly as Brian briefly explained he’d had some trouble with a client but that he was fine and we were on our way to my mother’s for a birthday celebration . . . and would they like to come along?
Oh, my, I thought, imagining what my mother would say when we arrived at the house on Beverly with Mr. and Mrs. Malone in tow. Heck, what would I say? Something along the lines of: “Hello, Mummy dearest, meet the parents.
Only watch out for Brian’s dad. He has fleas.”
Oy vey.
Happy Birthday to me.
Acknowledgments
Sometimes being a writer is just too much fun, particularly when you’re doing research that involves a friend driving you around Dallas to bars and a strip club. Muchas gracias to Dan Hale, who did exactly that. Any errors are due to literary license, not to a bad guide.
Thanks to Allison Price for lending me her name, occupation, and hair color for Allie Price—okay, and for precipitating that incident at the Chippendales’ show at Harrah’s, which we’ll also call “research.”
My undying gratitude to Ed Spitznagel for allowing me to steal a hilarious haiku he wrote and for putting up with my crazy brain and nutty schedule. I love you!
I’m a fortunate girl to have such an incredible support system, including my editor, Sarah Durand; Danielle Bartlett, ace publicist; Jeremy Cesarec; and the other folks at Avon who work so hard to make my books look great. I couldn’t have better cheerleaders than Andrea Cirillo and Kelly Harms at Jane Rotrosen. Y’all rock! And, last but not least, much love to my family and friends, without whom
I would be orphaned and friendless. You mean the world to me!
About the Author
SUSAN McBRIDE was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and earned a B.S. in journalism at the University of Kansas, graduating with Distinction. Vowing that nothing would get in the way of her “novel” ambitions, she moved to Dallas and worked a variety of odd jobs in order to support her writing endeavors. In addition to writing three previous acclaimed and award-winning Debutante Dropout mysteries—
The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and Blue Blood—Ms. McBride is the author of three novels in her Maggie Ryan series and co-founder of TheMysteryChicks.com, as well as The Lipstick Chronicles blog online. She currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri, and you can visit her website at www.susanmcbride.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favourite HarperCollins author.
Praise for
SUSAN McBRIDE’s
DEBUTANTE DROPOUT MYSTERIES
“Kick off your Manolos and skip the cocktail hour to curl up with Andy Kendricks,
her socialite mother, and her blue blood buddies.”
Nancy Martin
“Ms. McBride knows her territory.She has put together a funny, eccentric bunch
of characters who bound around townwith perfect manicures, big hair,
and lots of social savvy. . . . Hilarious.”
Dallas Morning News
“[A] delicious romp.”
Tess Gerritsen
“As alluring as an Escada evening dress andas tempting as a slice of death-by-chocolate cake.”
Publishers Weekly
“A wonderful new series. . . .Andy Kendricks’s [next] effort can’t come soon enough.”
January magazine
“Susan McBride . . . will keep you laughing long after you close the covers.”
Katie MacAlister
Books by Susan McBride
Night of the Living Deb
The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club
The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
Blue Blood
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEB. Copyright © 2007 by Susan McBride. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Acrobat e-Book Reader December 2007
ISBN 978-0-06-157483-2
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Australia
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
Auckland, New Zealand
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
About the Publisher
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au
55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900
Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca
P.O. Box 1
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz
http://www.uk.harpercollinsebooks.com
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com
Night of the Living Deb Page 26
