"Brash, flaming and sassy amateur sleuth mystery"

Growing up wealthy made it hard for Nora Blackbird to survive when her parents went through the family fortune, skipped town, and began living the high life in a foreign country using funds "borrowed" from friends. Keeping Blackbird Farm is important to Nora so much so that she sold some acreage to a mobster's son who built a used car lot on the property. She now works as a society columnist for the Philadelphia Intelligencer which means going to a lot of parties hosted by friends.

Oliver Cooper, who has been nominated as the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, and his trophy wife Doe, throw the latest social event attended by Nora. Nora is alone with her first love Flan Cooper until his wife Laura catches them and causes a public scene. The next day Laura is found dead with Flan, who was having marital difficulties, the prime suspect and Nora a close second. With her freedom at stake and a desire to clear her reputation and that of Flan's, Nora embarks on her own investigation against a murderer not hesitant to kill again.

DEAD GIRLS DON'T WEAR DIAMONDS is a brash, flaming and sassy amateur sleuth mystery staring a person trying to be the voice of reason yet always finds herself up to her ears in trouble and ridiculous predicaments. The heroine's relationship with the mobster's son will make Nancy Martin's latest mystery have cross over appeal to romance fans. This is the perfect novel to take to the beach, a book that is light, breezy, and pure fun.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 24, 2003

Summary

Giving up my socialite life to get a real job writing a society column for a Philadelphia paper hasn't worked out as well as I hoped. The developers still want to turn the Blackbird estate into an outlet mall. My eccentric sisters are convinced I need a dog, a baby...or a keeper. And now I'm falling hard for a Jersey tough guy with criminal connections. On top of my family feuding, one of the city's nouveau riche has just been murdered, and I could be a prime suspect. What would Emily Post do?

When a high society jewel thief winds up drowned at the bottom of a pool with a tacky garden gnome tied to her ankles, Nora must swing into action to save her old flame, Flan Cooper, from a hasty murder charge. A politically ambitious millionaire with hushed up secrets, a dotty grand dame with a penchant for polo teams, and a cat fancier who keeps a gun with his silver tea set all steer suspicion onto Nora herself. It's enough to make the bluebloods turn pale! Nora must find the killer on her own—or risk trading her grandmother's couture for an orange jumpsuit. All in an ex-debutante's day's work, Nora. All in a day's work.