I find it very fitting that it’s my first day of summer break and I’m reviewing a lazy summer beach read.  During summer breaks when I was in college, my downtime was spent reading mindless fluff about boys, romance, being single in the city, etc.  It was such a great break from school reading.  And while I still get to read all that school stuff (professional development is fun!), I need less of a break from books and more of a break from twelve year olds when summer rolls around.  

One Dangerous Lady by Jane Stanton Hitchcock was reminiscent of my college summers spent by the apartment complex pool drinking way too much alcohol and burning my very pale flesh.  Aaahh, the good ole days.

Jo Slater is living the high life in New York City with the socially elite.  After a couple “off” years where she lost her power and privilege, she’s back on top of her game, no thanks to her dead husband who left his mistress with his fortune when he died.  While celebrating her best friend’s daughter’s wedding on a yacht in Barbados, the girl’s billionaire godfather goes missing and all clues point toward his new wife Carla as the culprit.
 
Things get twisted and dirty as Jo, along with some friends and one famous mystery writer, begin to uncover the lives of those around them and are led on an adventure that has more than a few causalities.  One Dangerous Lady is a fun read about high society, fine art, loads of money, mental illness, and murder.

In the beginning, I had a hard time getting into the novel but around page fifty, I was hooked and needed to know how one person could be so evil and yet get away with so much destruction.  This is a book that is read best on the beach with a fruity drink in hand; mindless and fun, One Dangerous Lady is a perfect vacation read.  Now all you need to do is book the vacay.