Stunningly beautiful Mary Lisa Beverly has just won her third Daytime Emmy for her role as the Bitch Goddess, Sunday Cavendish, on the soap Born to be Wild. Unlike Sunday, she doesn’t live the Hollywood lifestyle of glitz and glamour. She goes to work, comes home, and leads a quiet life in a gated community in Malibu with a gaggle of (nutty) friends.
In disguise to avoid the paparazzi, Mary Lisa is on her way back from the Army surplus store when she is struck by a speeding car and sent to the hospital. Witnesses say it wasn’t an accident. Her larger-than-life best friend, Lou Lou, thinks it’s a whack job obsessed with Sunday Cavendish. Daniel Vasquez, the detective assigned to her case, thinks it may be someone with a personal grudge.
To shake off the incident, Mary Lisa takes a three-day weekend and heads back to her hometown of Goddard Bay, Oregon for the first time in three years. Unfortunately, that means she’ll have to stay at her parents’ house with her mother and two self-centered, bitchy sisters – one of which broke up Mary Lisa’s engagement by sleeping with her fiancé. The only reason to return is to see her father, whom she adores. It's a really good thing she inherited everything from her father!
No sooner does Mary Lisa arrive than things start heating up. There’s the mayor’s brutal murder in his own garage. Her sister, Monica, is running for a state office -- the same sister responsible for stealing Mark from Mary Lisa. Very handsome D.A., John Goddard, has just dumped the other sister, Kelley. And the very handsome local police chief would rather eat nails than look at Mary Lisa. Could be because the last time Jack Wolf saw her, she was sitting in one of his jail cells. Oh, and John Goddard takes a shine to her which she brushes off, unwilling to be like Monica and hurt her sister. But she does tell John the real reason she’s there…the accident, the possibility of a stalker…
Mary Lisa's life has turned into a real-life soap opera. But she's no Sunday Cavendish, and that's a very good thing.
She returns to L.A., only to find the killer/stalker has not given up on his plan, and Vasquez -- “Danny” to Lou Lou now (umhm) -- has no lead on the case. Mary Lisa’s other best friend and local TV anchorwoman, Elizabeth, helps out with a news broadcast on the incidents…”if you have any information…” in hopes of flushing the whack job out. Next thing you know Jack Wolf is standing on Mary Lisa’s doorstep, sent by her father to protect her. Sparks fly. John Goddard shows up too, and takes an immediate interest in Elizabeth.
You can see how the frequent flyer miles will be stacking up big-time, especially when the entire cast and crew return to Oregon, and the girls get involved in yet another murder...and a suicide.
Mary Lisa is a smart, independent, and down-to-earth despite being square in the middle of the Hollywood muck and mire. Jack is the typical handsome, pig-headed brute. The golden parts belong to Lou Lou, though. Like all good sidekicks, she adds the humor and pizzazz in just the right places. Really, in some points of the book it’s hard to tell which character is supposed to be taking center stage, lending itself more to an ensemble than all about Mary Lisa. That isn’t a bad thing, as it really rounds out the book’s plot. And the tidbits and interworkings of the soap opera industry are a real hoot.
Worth the paperback cover price? Absolutely. It’s a lot of fun, a great diversion, and perfect for a beach read.
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Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Jove (July 25, 2006)
ISBN: 0515142395