Party Crashers

Modern-day Cinderella Jolie Goodman isn't dressing up for the ball in Miu Miu shoes and an Ultrasuede jumpsuit "borrowed" from Neiman Marcus in order to find her princeâ€"she's trying to discover who's behind the disappearance of her shady boyfriend. And instead of being hindered by two evil stepsisters, Jolie has two expert party crashers at her side, sneaking her into Atlanta's most exclusive affairs so that she can grill her boyfriend's upper-class pals. Jolie's prince eventually does appear, in the form of hunky media empire heir Beck Underwood, satisfying the book's "romantic suspense" label, but as Jolie stumbles from one near disaster to another, Bond (Kill the Competition, etc.) lays on the laughs with such enthusiasm that "comic suspense" might be a better description. The danger and hilarity stirred up by Jolie's amateur sleuthing play strongly off each other, leaving Beck looking like a monkey in the middle until the unlikely, syrupy denouement, which seems as tacked on and superfluous as a giant bow on an elegant Vera Wang gown. But Bond delivers a true catch-you-by-surprise plot twist that gives the story a good yank in the right direction and may even leave readers with a few devious thoughts on how to crash some parties of their own.