Rebecca Burns Aldridge

Author of Drop Dead Handsome: A Flower Girls Mystery

A deserted sailboat. A gruesome “catch” by a fisherman. A woman’s “accidental” death. Her friends’ suspicions. Their subsequent dangerous–sometimes comic–investigation.

Four women, who live in various places of the South and are known to one another only through email, are brought together by a shattering phone call. That call tells them of the shocking and, to them, unsatisfactorily explained death of their mutual friend, Maggie Muldoon Palmer, a wealthy philanthropist in Mississippi. At Maggie’s funeral, in a simultaneous move that surprises the four strangers, they each lay a yellow rose, Maggie’s favorite flower, on the casket.

“The flower girls,” as they refer to themselves after the funeral, are not the usual run-of-the-mill detectives. Ranging in age from mid-forty to seventy, they are not the svelte, hip, grown-up version of Nancy Drew. It’s “The Golden Girls” meet Agatha Christie!

Although they are all single-or-single-again southern women, they are as different as can be. Tootsie dresses garishly, constantly nibbles peanut butter, and lives on the edge; the only thing Bippy likes more than eating is playing matchmaker; Penelope avoids wearing hearing aids because she is just “a little hard of hearing” and wears clothes that look as if she robbed a Goodwill box; Rosemary, a forty-something African American newspaper editor, betrayed by her ex-husband, is trying to resist falling in love.

With good humor, suspicion, and determination to get to the bottom of things, they distrust everyone: the man Maggie was going to marry, her brothers, and even the detective assigned to the case. All four Flower Girls are unprepared, not only for the danger which lies in wait for them by their stubborn refusal to accept Maggie’s death as an accident, but for the extent to which their lives are changed forever by their friendship.

TESTIMONIALS

“If you’re a fan of Fannie Flagg, Rita Mae Brown, or Mary Kay Andrews, you need to make room at the table for Rebecca Burns Aldridge, whose Drop Dead Handsome you are likely to devour. Aldridge serves up a delicious mystery served with a delightfully large dollop of Southern humor and charm, and every page brims with flat-out fun. Four vividly drawn strangers become a team of amateur female detectives determined to explain the unexpected death of a dear mutual friend in this character-driven cozy whodunit. Pour yoursell a glass of sweet tea. Make some peanut butter crackers. Then start reading, but beware: you’ll be sorry to say goodbye to these smart, clever, endearing women.”

—W. Edward Blain, author of Passion Play and Love Cools

“A smart, sassy, southern mystery—shades of Steel Magnolias and The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. After the untimely death of Maggie Muldoon Palmer, four of her longtime friends bond and become instant lady sleuths. Tootsie, Bippy, Pen, & Rose are quirky characters who become like friends and family. They’ll win your heart and tickle your funny bone. Aldridge captures the reader with engaging writing and delightful characterizations.”

—Pat Benedict Jurgens, Author of Falling Forward: A Woman’s Journey West

“I love this book! I couldn’t put it down. The character development is absolutely wonderful.”

—Patricia Slorah, PhD, author of Grandparents’ Rights: What Every Grandparent Needs to Know

Click here to read more testimonials for Drop Dead Handsome: A Flower Girls Mystery