Not A Girl Detective [Mass Market Paperback]

Mystery-writer biographer Cece Caruso is in the midst of book on Nancy Drew author "Carolyn Keene" (actually a pseudonym for numerous authors) when her bookstore-owner friends ask her to deliver a vintage Nancy Drew book to collector Edgar Edwards. Cece is more than happy for an excuse to meet the eccentric millionaire collector. They strike up an immediate friendship, and after showing her his collection, he shows her something really special--a nude portrait of the model who posed for the original Nancy Drew covers.

Cece is scheduled to give a luncheon speech at a Nancy Drew convention in nearby Palm Springs, and Edward invites her to use his vacation house there. Delighted at her good fortune, Cece packs up herself and her two friends, Lael and Bridget, a boatload of vintage clothes (which she collects, though she told Edgar she collected nothing) and head for a fun girls' weekend. Unfortunately, someone throws a kink into their plans--a big kink. A dead body. Edgar's body.

The suspects are many, including Edgar's boy-toy friend and his majordomo; a wild-eyed Nancy Drew fanatic who wouldn't have wanted that nude painting made public; her less-than-honest, performance artist daughter; Bridget's new boy-toy boyfriend; a shi-shi art dealer. And, of course, Cece herself, who could have endeared herself to the police had she not insisted on solving the mystery herself. But her curiosity about the model in the nude painting, the artist who did the painting, and anything connected to Nancy Drew gets the better of her.

The second in the Cece Caruso series is a fun, fast-paced puzzler, and Cece and her "chums" give Nancy a run for her money. The Nancy Drew trivia is fascinating, and the many references to vintage clothing makes me want to learn more. My one beef--Cece leaves town, twice, and stays gone for hours on end without making arrangements for anyone to take care of her dog and cat. I mean, maybe she did make arrangements, but if it was mentioned, I missed it.

This is just one of those fun books...the heroine has no training other than the obligatory cop boyfriend. The book is one of those great summer reads. You can sit down and curl up with Cece and the wacky friends, family and acquaintances. I read her first book ("I dreamed I married Perry Mason"...who could say no to that title?) and became thoroughly hooked.

Cece Caruso, biographer of dead mystery writers, is currently engaged in writing the biography of Carolyn Keene. Or rather writing about the many unacknowledged writers who penned the Nancy Drew (amongst others) mystery series under the pseudonym "Carolyn Kenne" for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. But Cece's real fascination is with Grace Horton, the young woman who modeled as Nancy Drew for the original book covers when they were first published, otherwise known as the Blue Nancy texts. A devout fan of the intrepid young fictional sleuth, Cece cannot be happier, especially when she's invited to give a key-not speech at a Nancy Drew convention, and gets to meet eccentric collector Edgar Edwards who just happens to own a world famous collection of Nancy Drews. Cece and Edgar hit it off so well that he even offers her the use of his Palm Springs vacation house while Cece's attending the Nancy Drew convention. Soon, Cece with her two best friends, Lael and Bridget, in tow, are off for weekend of fun. Except that amidst all the frolicking, Cece and her friends find their erstwhile host dead. The Palm Springs police are eyeing Cece with suspicion. But Cece has her own suspicions about who could have murdered Edgar and why, and she's determined to make her case and get her murderer, just like the fictional Nancy Drew that so inspired her when she was growing up...

While "Not a Girl Detective" is a much lighter follow-up to "I Dreamed I married Perry Mason," it still was a fun read. I thought that the notion of structuring "Not a Girl Detective" along the lines of a Nancy Drew mystery novel was a rather ingenuous one and worked rather well. As with "I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason," the dialogue in this latest Cece Caruso installment was snappy and rather droll, and added to the air of immediacy and smoothness that the book had. However, while "Not a Girl Detective" was an all round pleasing read, I couldn't help wishing that it had been little more intriguing and more complex. All in all, though, a nice 3 1/2 star read.