It Happened One Murder

Harriet is a mess. She has just been fired from her job at HUMANS magazine (think People, with more scandal) and is forced to skulk back to her suburban home from NYC. Not that it’s so bad there—her mother’s most recent marriage to George George (yes, that is his name) has elevated her living conditions to a beautiful beach home, and her hometown friends Steven and Maggie are there to console and support her. When her mother decides to throw a lavish party for Harriet’s 26th birthday, all seems to be going well until there’s an outburst in the kitchen—Mr. George confronts Sara, the head chef for All Bright Catering, about an off-tasting canape, and all hell breaks loose. Then Har lays eyes on Nic, Sara’s brother, and swoons. This is when all the fun starts! Nic has changed a lot since he and Harriet had a two-week shagging affair after high school, and she left him just as abruptly, but doesn’t seem to remember him. Then Mr. George is found dead on the beach, with Sara kneeling over him, and her chef’s knife in the sand. What follows is a crazy race to clear Sara’s name by turning over every skeleton in town, run-ins with local police, breaking and entering, a trip to a shady excavating company, and yes, increasingly hot moments between Nic and Harriet. Lawson’s adult debut will have you laughing and guessing until the very end.—Dodie Ownes