THE SOCIETY BALL MURDERS

A campy debut featuring society-reporter Patty Nottingham and the ill-mannered boor who poisoned Binky, Neenie, and Buffy, the socialite chairladies of the past three San Francisco charity balls. Could the boor be: Mrs. Huntting-Margate, the irascible nicotine-addict and publisher who refuses to let Patty chat about the deaths in her column? Lamar Philbin, ""in a snit because society had scorned his gowns""? Prudence, ousted from the social register because of her unseemly marriage? Or perhaps her husband, sexy Boolabar Jabbar-Lamumba, who could be either a witch doctor or a Third World terrorist? The police suspect two plastic surgeons (don't ask), but Patty and her boyfriend, Rex, who leads an all-girl band, outsmart everyone (which isn't hard here) and uncover a few dalliances that may have piqued the boor beyond endurance, then wrap up the case in time for brunch. Despite a few wickedly arch zingers (aimed at predictable targets--the two thin, the too rich, the too powerful), a mostly heavy-handed attempt at satire, and the drearily dauntless Patty, it seems, has been invited back for repeat appearances.