Big Boned

Big Boned, by Meg Cabot. Heather Wells mysteries, #3, 280 pages, Overdrive listening time: 8 hours.

Big Boned is the third book in Cabot's Heather Wells series. Heather is a washed up former pop singer. She was famous on the mall and fair circuit when she was a teen. Her mother ran off with her manager and all of Heather's money, her father was jailed, and her musician boy friend dumped her. Heather, in an attempt to put her life back together and pursue music she wants to write, took a job at New York College as assistant dorm director at the aptly named "Death Dorm." This time it's Heather's boss, the dorm director, who she finds shot through the head in his office. True to Cabot's signature style, there's lots of fun subplots along with the murder mystery. Heather's current boyfriend tells her he has something he needs to ask her "when the time is right;" her student assistant, Sarah, has fallen for the president of the grad student council, and he's been accused of the dorm director's murder; a female resident of the dorm has accused the college pastor of sexual harrassment; a strike by the student worker force is imminent; and Heather's landlord and part-time boss, on whom she's been crushing since she moved in with him after his brother (the musician) dropped her, is acting oddly. With all this going on, it's impossible for a girl to pass up the scrumptious homemade cookies and pastries at the funeral, the yummy bagels in the dorm caf (full-fat cream cheese and 3 slices of bacon, of course), or her morning grande cappaccino with whipped cream.

This is a fast, fun and relaxed read. Nothing heavy here except the whipped cream on Heather's coffee.

I listened to the Overdrive version of the book.