Staying Cool

Art consultant Ellen Santiago Laws thinks the spark has gone out of her life. Five years a widow, she has a grown daughter, a senile mother and very few prospects for adventure. But after she serves on a jury that convicts a man for murdering the flashy head of an exclusive Southern California matchmaking service, she discovers that not all the evidence came out in the courtroom-and the victim might not have been quite as virtuous as the prosecution made her out to be. With the help of an unlikely group of friends (including a weight-obsessed cardiologist with a penchant for beach bimbos, a high school frenemy, and a decorator with an uncanny resemblance to Vlad the Impaler), Ellen begins her investigation into the chic world of California matchmaking, where she enrolls as a love-starved client. What she discovers is enough to make anyone scared single, but when she is matched with a not-so-unattractive lawyer, life starts to get a lot more interesting. Just as it seems things are looking up, though, the real killer catches on and Ellen has to stay cool-to stay alive.