Iced Chiffon

October 15, 2012
Reagan Summerside is down on her luck, selling off her designer clothes to save the historic Savannah mansion she's restoring, those being the only assets left from her failed marriage to real-estate agent Hollis. As she's arranging the clothes, Hollis and the new wife, dubbed Cupcake by Reagan, stop by for the key to the Lexus Reagan once drove. Cupcake spotsand quickly buysa pink chiffon frock to wear to that evening's benefit gala. She also wears it to her death. Hollis is the prime suspect, and Reagan knows that, in the end, her beloved home will likely be the source of his lawyer's fee. She decides to solve the murder herself, even as she's starting up her consignment business and over the objections of Hollis, the lawyer, her aunt, and her mother. But Reagan blunders ahead, eventually turning up evidence of blackmail, potential suspects whom Cupcake had wronged, and simmering resentments among people she thought were friends. This first in a new series Brown, who also writes romances as Dianne Castell, should draw fans from both romance and cozy readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)