From Publishers Weekly
Warm, winsome and weight-bedeviled Savannah Reid, proprietor of the Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency in coastal San Carmelita, Calif., goes undercover as a plus-size fashion model in McKevett's winning ninth outing, a step up from last year's family-angst-laden Death by Chocolate. When full-figured model Cait Connor turns up dead in her bathroom, stifled in a "vapor-impermeable suit," her bereaved husband blames an overly rigorous exercise routine and the manufacturer of Slenda Flakes, the cereal Cait had been hired to promote - if she could lose 30 pounds in 60 days. But after the death of another plus-size model working for the same cereal company, struck by a hit-and-run driver while she's on an early morning jog, it's clear murder's afoot. Posing as a model, Savannah gets on the killer's trail, aided by police detective Dirk Coulter and the computer expertise of her bright young assistant, Tammy Hart. The arrival from Georgia of a demanding sister of Savannah's, who suddenly moves in to follow up an Internet romance, complicates the sleuthing without slowing the plot. Food lore, a good puzzle, an exciting climax and cats with their therapeutic purring all add to the fun.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Full-figured herself and quite comfortable in her own skin, private eye Savannah Reid is more than willing to take on a case investigating the recent death of two plus-size models she personally admired. The first death is tragic but seems pretty unmysterious. A spokesmodel for Slenda Flakes cereal died of heatstroke during a frantic exercise regime to shed pounds for a new ad campaign. But when a second model working for the same company becomes the victim of a hit-and-run driver, Savannah refuses to chalk it up to coincidence, especially when the women's agent asks her to get to the bottom of this flaky case. With profits at Savannah's Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency dwindling, she agrees to don a swimsuit and suck in her gut to blend in at a plus-size photo shoot. But as Savannah smiles for the camera and keeps her eyes and ears open for clues, she discovers that she may have bitten off more than she can chew. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In a world where stick-thin women adorn fashion magazines and silver screens, plus-sized private eye Savannah Reid is grateful for the wild success-and fabulous fashion tips-of full-figured model Cait Connor. When Cait is found dead after months of extreme dieting, everyone assumes risky regimen did her in. But then a second full-figured model meets an untimely end, and it's time to weigh the facts...and search for suspects.

At first it seems that Cait's death is a clear case of dieting run amok. As the new spokesperson for Wentworth's Slenda Flakes, Cait needed to lose thirty pounds in sixty days and apparently died trying. Now her grieving husband wants to sue Wentworth Cereal for that fatal clause in her contract. Considering how much shredded wheat and puffed rice Wentworth has on the market, Kevin Connor could receive a lot of dough.

It all seems cut and dried until Kameeka Wills, another plus model working-and starving-for Wentworth, is killed by a hit-and-run driver while jogging at four a.m. Now Savannah's really suspicious, and determined to avenge her curvaceous sisters...even if it means going undercover for the camera. There are more models on the Slenda Flakes campaign who could be at risk, and enough suspects to keep Savannah hopping. There's Kevin Connor and his high-stakes lawsuit; Charles Wentworth III, whose secretly struggling company can't afford a weight-loss cereal that packs on the pounds; and Jerrod Beekman, a desperate ad executive whose agency's fate is aligned with Wentworth's. Top that off with a slimy stalker and a womanizing photographer, and Savannah's bowl is more than full. But she's determined to satisfy her craving for justice-before a cunning killer strikes again￯﾿ﾽ

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly