The Truth About Love and Lightning (31 page)

THE COUGAR CLUB

Meet three women who aren’t about to run and hide just because the world says they should be on the shelf and out of circulation.

Kat:
Her life seems perfect until she loses her high-powered advertising job
and
catches her live-in lover in a compromising position—with his
computer
!

Carla:
This sexy TV news anchor is in danger of being replaced by a twentysomething blond bimbo. Wasn’t it just yesterday that she was the up-and-coming star?

Elise:
A married dermatologist, Elise thinks her plastic surgeon husband is playing doctor with someone else.

Kat firmly believes that aging gracefully isn’t about giving up; it’s about living life with your engine on overdrive. So this unofficial “Cougar Club” quickly learns three things about survival of the fittest in today’s youth-obsessed society: true friendship never dies, the only way to live is real, and you’re never too old to follow your heart.

TOO PRETTY TO DIE

They call them “pretty parties,” and they’re the latest rage among Dallas debutantes—get-togethers with light refreshments, heavy gossip, and Dr. Sonja Madhavi and her magic Botox needles. Former socialite Andy Kendricks normally wouldn’t be caught dead at such an event, but she’s attending as a favor to her friend Janet, a society reporter in search of a juicy story. And boy does she find one when aging beauty queen Miranda DuBois bursts into the room—drunk, disorderly, and packing a pistol.

Miranda’s wrinkles have seen better days, and she blames it all on Dr. Madhavi. Luckily, Andy calms her down and gets her home to bed . . . where she’s found dead the next morning. The police suspect suicide, but Andy knows that no former pageant girl would give up that easily. She’s determined to find Miranda’s killer herself, but she’ll have to be careful. After all, Botox can make you look younger, but it can’t bring you back from the grave.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEB

Renegade rich girl Andy Kendricks isn’t the belle of
any
Dallas ball—and that’s just the way the debutante dropout likes it! She’s got a good life and a great man: her defense attorney boyfriend, Brian Malone. Brian’s such a straight arrow that he had to be dragged kicking and screaming to a close friend’s bachelor party at a sleazy local “gentleman’s club.”

So why is the groom-to-be saying that Brian left the bacchanal arm in arm with “the hottest body in the Lone Star State”? And what was that hot body doing stone-cold dead in the trunk of Brian’s car? And where
is
Brian anyway? The cops are looking for Andy’s allegedly unfaithful/ possibly homicidal beau, who hasn’t been seen since the party. But Andy can’t believe her upstanding lover is a murdering fool, and she’s determined to prove it—though she might end up with a lot more broken than just her heart.

THE LONE STAR LONELY HEARTS CLUB

Wealthy Texas widows need loving too . . . which is why Bebe Kent joined a dating service for “discriminating” seniors soon after relocating to the swanky Belle Meade retirement community. Unfortunately, Bebe didn’t live long enough to meet “Mr. Right.” And though doctors declared her death totally natural, extravagant blue-blooded Dallas socialite Cissy Blevins Kendricks believes her old friend’s demise was hastened—and she’s ready to check herself into Belle Meade incognito to prove it.

Cissy’s rebellious, sometime-sleuthing daughter, Andrea, wants no part of her mother’s glittering social whirl—and she’s anything but pleased to have Cissy muscle her way into Andy’s milieu. She has no choice, however, but to join her mom in search of the truth—especially when more well-heeled widows start turning up dead . . .

BLUE BLOOD

To the dismay of her high-society mother, Cissy, Dallas heiress Andy Kendricks wants no part of the Junior League life—opting instead for a job as a website designer and a passel of unpedigreed pals. Now her good friend Molly O’Brien is in bad trouble, accused of killing her boss at the local restaurant “Jugs.” Though no proper deb would ever set foot in such a sleazy dive, Andy’s soon slipping into skintight hot pants and a stuffed triple-D bra to gain employment there and somehow help clear Molly’s name. But Andy’s undercover lark is soon bringing her into too-close contact with all manner of dangerous adversaries—including a shady TV preacher, a fanatical Mothers Against Porn activist . . . and a killer who is none too keen on meddling rich girls.

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Praise for the books of Susan McBride

“I’ll read anything by Susan McBride.”

—#1
New York Times
bestselling author Charlaine Harris

“Written with touching insight into family relationships and what we call home,
Little Black Dress
is a lovely and entertaining journey into the magical side of things. I bet you’ll never look at your closet the same way again.”

—Sarah Addison Allen, bestselling author of
The Peach Keeper

“
Little Black Dress
is a delightful, emotional, and thoroughly engaging exploration of the connections that bind women together and the magic that’s created when mothers, daughters, and sisters learn to open their eyes and hearts to their truest desires.”

—Marilyn Brant, author of
Friday Mornings at Nine

“With a deft hand and a sensitive heart, Susan McBride spins a magical tale. A bittersweet, Gothic past melds perfectly with a tender and revelatory present. Part mystery, part love story. Emotionally satisfying,
Little Black Dress
is an enchanting escape into a magical and wonderful world. A delight to read.”

—M. J. Rose, internationally bestselling author of
The Book of Lost Fragrances

“
Little Black Dress
is a luminous story filled with magic and hope. I loved this tender, touching, and enchanting saga about the unique bond of mothers, daughters, and sisters.”

—Ellen Meister, author of
The Other Life

“
Little Black Dress
is big on heart, secrets, and magic. This enchanting novel is a bookshelf essential.”

—Karin Gillespie, author of the Bottom Dollar Girl series and coauthor of
The Sweet Potato Queen’s First Big-Ass Novel

“Susan McBride’s
Little Black Dress
sparkles with magic! It’s part love story, part mystery, part family saga, all wrapped together in the wonder of an amazing little dress that will leave you crying and cheering. I loved this book!”

—Judy Merrill Larsen, author of
All the Numbers

“I’m madly in love with this full-of-surprises story about secrets, family ties—and one magical little black dress. One of my favorite novels of the year.”

—Melissa Senate, author of
The Love Goddess’ Cooking School

“With sparkle and wit, Susan McBride crafts both a family saga of painful secrets and a modern story of a woman who thinks she’s got it all under control—until everything she thought she knew blows apart.
Little Black Dress
is a beguiling story of fate, love, and magic.”

—Kristina Riggle, author of
Keepsake

“
The Cougar Club
is funny and irreverent. Fans of
First Wives Club
and
Sex & the City
will love this new take on gals and guys and games lovers play.”

—
USA Today
bestselling author Pamela Morsi

“Susan McBride delivers her trademark ‘can’t put it down’ storytelling with style, sex, and humor. Kick off your Louboutins and stay in for the night.
The Cougar Club
will charm you and surprise you, right up to the last page.”

—Harley Jane Kozak, Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award–winning author of
A Date You Can’t Refuse

Credits

Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

Cover photograph © by Patricia Turner/Arcangel Images

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

P.S.™ is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.

THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE AND LIGHTNING. Copyright © 2013 by Susan McBride. Excerpt from IN THE PINK copyright © 2012 by Susan McBride. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.