By: Leigh Dunlap
ISBN: 9798892422710
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: 08/12/2025
Format: Other
My Rating: TBR
Motherhood and murder link five very different women when a working-class detective clashes with wealthy moms in this upmarket thriller in the vein of May Cobb and Jeneva Rose.
Anderson Tupper, a member of one of Atlanta’s richest families, has been murdered in the dugout of the Little League field where he was a volunteer coach, and it’s up to Detective Shay Claypool, a single mother from the other side of town, to find his killer.
With the exclusive area of Buckhead threatening to secede from the city of Atlanta and take its tax revenue with it, Shay is under pressure to solve the murder of one of Buckhead’s own. Accustomed to handling drug dealers and prostitutes, she must now contend with an even more sinister group: the Buckhead Betties, the insufferably entitled women of Georgia’s most affluent zip code. One of them might be a murderer, but who? Is it the old-money queen of Buckhead? The mysterious new girl in town? The drug dealing trophy wife?
It seems secrets and lies are as plentiful as luxury handbags in Atlanta and everyone’s guilty of something. Shay’s investigation will make her examine her own prejudices and discover that, as women and mothers, she might not be that different from the Betties after all. And if she isn’t careful, they just might take her down with them.
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About the Author
I wrote the hit movie A Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff, a film that spawned a successful Warner Brothers franchise of five movies. I also wrote Spy Girls, based on the popular teen book series, for producer Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting) and Camp Rockaway for Sony Pictures and producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher (Gladiator, Stuart Little). My film, 16-Love was Time Warner Digital’s top release of 2012. The Standoff, with Olivia Holt (Cruel Summer) and Alex Wolff (Jumanji, Inheritance, Pig), which I wrote and co-produced, was released on Netflix. I attended the film writing program at the USC School of Cinema-Television and have also written a novel - Bless Your Heart - about money, motherhood and murder - coming on August 12, 2025 from Crooked Lane Books. I'm also fairly good at Wordle and Spelling Bee. WEBSITE
