WANTED—DEB OR ALIVE

Debutante Dainty Prescott (Deb on Arrival—Live at Five, 2010, etc.) goes south of the border.

Life is just about perfect for Dainty Prescott. She gets a glow from her new relationship with Detective Jim Bruckman and another from watching her little sister, Teensy, come out as a debutante at the annual Rubanbleu ball. But when Dainty gets a middle of the night call from her sister, who’s been kidnapped by Mexican police alongside her best friend and co-debutante, Tiffany, her perfect life is turned into a disaster. She’s certain she can solve the case if only she can get to Ciudad Juárez, but not even Bruckman supports this foray of what he calls the Debutante Detective Agency. Confronted by a country she hates and a language barrier her good looks can’t cross, Dainty is at a standstill. Enter Amanda Vásquez. She’s either a local police lieutenant or a pygmy prostitute and, either way, may be Dainty’s only hope. The two team up in the most unlikely of pairings, dodging bullets and bodies as they evade the mysterious and murderous presence of local legend El Mortero. Dainty is in for a bigger challenge than she ever imagined as she gets closer to the truth, but she still can’t escape her biggest enemy of all: Mexico.

Less a mystery than a buddy adventure, the second in this series will please those enamored of Dainty’s disasters, so long as they don’t mind the high body count.