Good Little Wives

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 naïve 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.)