Party Girls Die in Pearls by Plum Sykes
(TP, $22.99, order here)
My book of the year is Plum Sykes, Party Girls Die in Pearls. This is a fun read. Set in the 1980s the plot centres around a disparate pair of students Ursula Flowerbottom, a studious girl from rural England and Nancy Feingold, an American exchange student from Saddle River, New Jersey. Neither of whom are really au fait with the lifestyle and expectations of the group of wealthy and/or aristocratic students with whom they are mixing. Sykes adds a few footnotes to inform readers who do not remember that far back e.g. comparison of outfit to one Sue Ellen might wear, Sue Ellen Ewing from the prime-time soap Dallas, which was the epitome of 80s glamour.