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Party Girls Die in Pearls

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

The New York Times bestselling author of Bergdorf Blondes takes us back to the decadent 1980s in this comic murder mystery set in the tony world of Oxford University.

It's 1985, and at Oxford University, Pimm's, punting, and ball gowns are de rigeur. Ursula Flowerbutton, a studious country girl, arrives for her first term anticipating nothing more sinister than days spent poring over history books in gilded libraries—and, if she's lucky, an invitation to a ball.

But when she discovers a glamorous classmate on a chaise longue with her throat cut, Ursula is catapulted into a murder investigation.

Determined to bag her first scoop for the famous student newspaper Cherwell, Ursula enlists the help of trend-setting American exchange student Nancy Feingold to unravel the case. While navigating a whirl of black-tie parties and secret dining societies, the girls discover a surfeit of suspects. From broken-hearted boyfriends to snobby Sloane Rangers, lovelorn librarians to dishy dons, none can be presumed innocent—and Ursula's investigations mean that she may be next on the murderer's list.

Clueless meets Agatha Christie in this wickedly funny tale of high society and low morals, the first book in Plum Sykes' irresistible new series.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 3, 2017
      Fortune favors Ursula Flowerbutton, the spunky “fresher” (first-year student) and aspiring reporter who stars in this frothy series launch set at Oxford University in 1985 from bestseller Sykes (Bergdorf Blondes). The orphan from Gloucestershire become instant besties with American gardening tools scion Nancy Feingold—thereby gaining entrée to the most exclusive soirées, as well as borrowing rights to a bottomless stash of Dynasty-worthy regalia. But then she discovers, on the morning of her first tutorial, the white satin–swathed corpse of one of the campus’s It Girls, putting her instantly on the journalistic fast track. Ursula’s subsequent sleuthing pulls her and the title-besotted Nancy, whose expressed goal is “minoring in Earl-Catching,” below the fictional Christminster College’s glossy surface, into the depths where greed, lust, and ambition roil. Though Sykes’s plotting proves serviceable enough, it’s her fizzy cocktail of satire and style that will leave readers thirsty for another round. Author tour. Agent: Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit.

    • Library Journal

      December 1, 2016
      Not rich and not glamorous, Oxford outsider Ursula Flowerbutton wants only to be left to her studies. But when she finds a classmate with her throat slashed, she's quick to investigate. The New York Times best-selling author of Bergdorf Blondes launches a new series.

      Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Library Journal

      December 1, 2016

      Not rich and not glamorous, Oxford outsider Ursula Flowerbutton wants only to be left to her studies. But when she finds a classmate with her throat slashed, she's quick to investigate. The New York Times best-selling author of Bergdorf Blondes launches a new series.

      Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      April 15, 2017
      Even Oxford University was invaded by the excesses of the 1980s. When very innocent Ursula arrives, she finds her wealthy fellow students prone to almost nightly neon-outfitted and champagne-fueled soirees in the crumbling piles of stone that make up the college town. Just as readers start settling into the ever-so-odd traditions that are Oxford, helped by Sykes' footnotes on practices at the school, one of the posh typesLady Brattenbury, no lessis found rather dead. Ursula and her American sidekick, Nancy, must solve the crime so that Ursula can land a spot on the college's famed newspaper. Readers will find that she's helped by too many coincidences and doors that open too easily to a freshman. They'll also find Ursula a little overly tweedy English and Nancy a very airheaded American. But so what? This flashback to fabulousness from the author of Bergdorf Blondes (2004) isn't meant to be taken too seriously. This frothy romp will find fans among mystery readers who want an escape from it all or who enjoy books by Cecilia Ahern.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

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