Size 14 Is Not Fat Either

October 9, 2006
In Cabot's entertaining, if flawed, second cozy (after 2006's Size 12 Is Not Fat
) to feature Heather Wells, a teen music idol turned student-life employee at NYU-like New York College, a cheerleader in Heather's dorm turns up dead—or, at least her head turns up, stewed almost beyond recognition in a cafeteria pot. Lindsay Combs was bubbly and popular, but as Heather digs deeper, she learns that Lindsay wasn't all sweetness and light. She slept around and was involved with obnoxious fraternity boys who made pin money dealing drugs. If solving Lindsay's murder isn't enough to keep Heather busy, her father, recently released after a 20-year prison sentence, shows up on her doorstep, looking for a renewed relationship and a place to stay. The roster of suspects is underdeveloped, and the denouement is both predictable and implausible, but Heather's charm and wit amply compensate.

November 15, 2006
Fans of Cabot's " Size 12 Is Not Fat "(2005) will be pleased that almost nothing has changed in this sequel. Once again, a killer is on the loose at fictional New York College--a young woman's decapitated head is found in a dorm kitchen's bubbling soup pot. Heather Wells, pop star turned residential advisor, dives in to solve the mystery with the same fumbling humor, vulnerability, and tenacity that she displayed in the first title. Even the love interest is the same here, and Cabot teases readers with an open ending that promises more sequels. Accessible to newcomers, this will still appeal most to readers of" Size 12."(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)