The Butcher of Beverly Hills: A Novel
Meet Kerry and Terry McAfee, identical twin sisters who have nothing in common, save their red hair and California-girl looks. Kerry's the good girl, a straight-A student who won a scholarship to UCLA. Terry's the bad girl, whose appetite for nose-candy won her a spot in the slammer. When Terry gets out of jail, the twins decide to open their own business as private investigators and soon they re keeping L.A. safe with the help of their trusty sidekicks: a Pomeranian named Paquito and a pug named Muffy.
When wealthy socialite Lenore Richling's twentysomething gold-digging boy toy of a husband absconds with ten thousand dollars' worth of her jewelry, she does what anyone in her position would do: she checks herself in for a plastic surgery shopping spree, then calls the McAfee twins for help. While Lenore recuperates from her face-lift in a luxury hotel, the gals hop on their hot-pink Harley Davidson and begin investigating a bevy of suspicious characters, including Barbie, a bimbo beauty consultant with buns of steel; Daniel Hattrick, a painkiller-pushing plastic surgeon; and Hugh Binion, a silver-haired, snake-tongued Hollywood attorney. Before they know it, the twins are wading in dead husbands, purloined cash, crotchless panties, mystery pills, and a body count high enough to make even tough cookies like them a little squeamish.
With a razor-sharp wit that brilliantly brings to life L.A.'s most eccentric personalities, The Butcher of Beverly Hills marks the debut of the two of the hottest sleuths since Stephanie Plum and delivers a fast-paced, highly original tale that will keep you guessing until the very end.
What if Stephanie Plum had an ex-cokehead for a sister? Gorgeous twin crime fighters battle a bunch of shady dudes in screenwriter Colt's vivacious debut, the first in a planned trilogy. Kerry and Terry McAfee are both tall, lanky and red-headed, but the similarity stops there: Terry's done time for cocaine possession and has a thing for dangerous women; Kerry's a UCLA grad with a fondness for dark, funny men. Together they're the L.A. PI firm Double Indemnity Investigations, a two-woman, perpetually broke organization dedicated to solving crimes, no job too big or small. When their aunt Reba, the Canasta Queen of Beverly Hills, sends her wealthy friend Lenore to ask the twins for their help in finding the $10,000 her playboy husband ran off with, Kerry and Terry find themselves up to their matching leather jackets in trouble. All roads lead to Dr. Hattrick, a pill-dispensing plastic surgeon who performs face-lifts on the Beverly Hills ladies-who-lunch crowd, but a cast of similarly menacing ne'er-do-wells, including a gun-toting Russian moll, a sleazy lawyer and a cop with a mullet and an attitude, keep the surprises coming. This is a fast-paced, gum-snapping, snarky chick-lit mystery with sparkle to spare. (July)
—Publishers Weekly
Identical twins Kerry and Terry McAfee couldn't be more different in personality. Valedictorian Kerry is smart and cautious; sharp and dangerous Terry spent her post-high school years in a jail cell. Together they formed Double Indemnity Investigations, and they've just had a new case dropped in their laps. Their aunt Reba's friend, Lenore, wants the twins to chase down her much-younger husband, Mario, who she claims has absconded with a large sum of her money. Lenore suspects Mario was two-timing her with Tatiana, a nurse at her plastic surgeon's office, but when the twins start digging, they learn that there's more going on at slick Dr. Hattrick's office than they ever could have imagined. Soon the bodies start piling up. Plenty of unexpected twists and turns make this a superior entry in the increasingly popular chick-lit mystery genre. Readers who cotton to the likable McAfee twins will be happy to know that two more books are planned for the series. Kristine Huntley
—Booklist
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