While their husbands are out making money, making deals, and making . . . whatever, the trophy wives of New Falls are slipping not so quietly into middle age. Lauren, Bridget, Dana, and Caroline pretend to each other that their only problems are parties, plastic surgery, and which Mikimotos to buy. But behind the closed doors of their gracious homes there are broken hearts and broken promises . . . the stuff that gossip is made of.

And the newest dish du jour is a whopper! The husband of one of their oldest friends, who dumped his wife for a newer model—a sexier, flashier, sleeker hairdresser—is found dead, his ex-wife, Kitty, standing over him . . . holding the smoking gun.

Kitty claims she's innocent, and there are plenty of women around town who might want the rat dead. Now it's up to the women to discover where in their high-priced suburb a killer is hiding, and which good little wife has done something very, very wicked.

"'The wealthy housewives of New Falls, N.Y., solve a murder in Drake's cheeky debut. When Vincent DeLano is found dead, his ex-wife, Kitty, is standing over him with a smoking gun. She claims she's innocent, and her cause becomes the novel's linchpin. Leading the charge is Dana Fulton, but the other women, mostly Wall Street wives, would prefer to keep their distance from the case. Caroline Meacham, preoccupied with her busy social calendar, limits her involvement to covering an attorney retainer. Bridget Haynes, a French trophy wife, struggles to hide a secret past and a current illness from her nave husband, Randall. Lauren Halliday, who has a secret of her own (it involves Vincent), is forced to face the truth about her marriage to her older husband, Bob. When the ladies finally come clean to one another about their secrets, Dana pieces together the clues she needs to confront the killer, who offers little resistance when the jig is up. Though some extraneous subplots feel contrived (the romantic involvement of Dana's son, a late-book murder), the novel remains as delightfully campy as an episode of Desperate Housewives. (Sept.)' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Marriage, murder, and facelifts--this juicy novel has it all, as four former trophy wives worry about sliding into middle age. When the Wall Street husband of one of the wives leaves for a younger woman, he winds up dead. Now the others must decide how to react--or just pretend it never happened.

A graduate of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York—two and a half hours due north of "New Falls"—Abby Drake understands the social pecking order of Manhattan's bedroom towns. Like many of the wives she portrays, she does not play golf but can drive a cart; unlike many, she owns no Mikimotos and has not had a face-lift. Yet. She currently lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she feels life is simply less stressful.