Dangerous Admissions

Starred review from June 4, 2007
Wielding “her weapon of choice, a lethally sharpened Cole-erase blue pencil,” Miranda “Rannie” Bookman makes a dynamic sleuth in O'Connor's lively romantic suspense debut. The plucky freelance copyeditor and single mom is shocked when her son, Nate, becomes a suspect in the murder of A. Lawrence “Tut” Tutwiler, director of college admissions for the exclusive Chapel School on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Parents will kill to get their kids into “Chaps,” where Nate's a senior and Rannie's taken a temporary part-time job. Will Chaps students also kill to get into the right university? Has recovering addict and former student Grant Werner come back for revenge? Or is the S.W.A.K. serial killer stalking the Upper West Side now targeting Chaps's faculty members? O'Connor, a veteran children's book author (Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy
), proves she can also please adults with a fresh, grammatically correct crime solver equally adept at deleting dangling participles and exposing psychotic killers.

December 1, 2007
Adult/High School-Miranda Bookman is disappointed with the state of her life. Divorced with two kids, she has ambled through a string of shallow and short-lived romances. Perhaps most embarrassing is her public exit from the publishing world as a result of an editing mistake in the title of a Nancy Drew novel. But Rannies life begins to take on the drama and excitement of a real-life mystery after the suspicious death of the director of college admissions at her sons upscale private academy, Chapel School. Her current job of giving tours to applicant families at Chaps gives Rannie the opportunity to explore the mystery of this soon-to-be murder investigation. However, murder isnt the only puzzle in her life. Her new relationship with Tim Butler, the father of another student, is clouded by the secrecy surrounding his widowhood and exit from the police force. In addition to Rannies own emerging steamy relationship, there is a romantic plot involving her teenage son will intrigue romance fans. The ritzy Manhattan setting is almost a subplot as well; it is sure to attract fans of Cecily von Ziegesars Gossip Girl series (Little, Brown). Ultimately, readers will be satisfied by the dangerous, nail-biting ending.Lynn Rashid, Marriots Ridge High School, Marriotsville, MD

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.