Tore through it, gimme more! ( )

When I lived in St Louis years ago, I knew Elaine Viets. I must confess that she probably wouldn't know me if she fell over me, though. but yes, I did know her. HEr writing career boomed at the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and then, probably 8 or 9 years after I left, she branched into television, then moved and became nationally syndicated (writing a column again), then fell off my radar.

I've seen books of a chick-lity flavored mystery with the author Elaine Viets, but didn't know for sure it was the Elaine I knew until this book came up for discussion at meetup. As it was "my" Elaine, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

We whirled -- one of us finished the dance, the other only skim-read the end after the first 100 pages.

I wanted to get the feel of St Louis, where I lived for so many years, for despite what people often think about a midwestern city, it was a great place, full of wonderful neighborhoods and lots of interesting things to explore (not to mention some fabulous restaurants.) I still miss Soulard, to this day, despite the fact I have a fabulous Farmer's Market here in Charleston. Soulard rocks. But apart from name dropping and some thinly veiled name changes, I never really felt St Louis, or even little Maplewood. (I was a U City gal, myself, but loved Maplewood and Webster Groves.)

One really great bit in the book though was a snooty wealthy woman talking about the "night squirrels" her gardener told her were getting into the garage and eating the dogfood. You know the ones -- the night squirrels with the long, hairless tails...

Will pass this along soon or wild release.