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High Society Mystery #2
Well Read and Dead
The return of blue-blooded fashionista Pauline Cook, whose search for a missing friend leads her from an iconoclastic book group to the deepest and most unfashionable reaches of the Far East.
Back in Chicago after a disastrous European love affair, socialite Pauline Cook finds her finances nearly depleted, her co-op a shambles, and her best friend mysteriously missing--vanished along with Pauline's cat. Though Whitney Armstrong's husband offers a substantial reward for the return of his lost wife, Pauline can't help suspecting that his grief is merely an act. But it's a shocking suggestion by a member of Whitney's book club that really gets Pauline moving--halfway around the world, in fact, to Thailand . . . in spite of a psychic's warning of terrible danger.
In Asia, a morass of dark motives and deadly corporate intrigues await the intrepid globe-trotter. And all the high society connections in the world aren't going to ensure that Pauline makes it home alive. . . .
Back in Chicago after a disastrous European love affair, socialite Pauline Cook finds her finances nearly depleted, her co-op a shambles, and her best friend mysteriously missing--vanished along with Pauline's cat. Though Whitney Armstrong's husband offers a substantial reward for the return of his lost wife, Pauline can't help suspecting that his grief is merely an act. But it's a shocking suggestion by a member of Whitney's book club that really gets Pauline moving--halfway around the world, in fact, to Thailand . . . in spite of a psychic's warning of terrible danger.
In Asia, a morass of dark motives and deadly corporate intrigues await the intrepid globe-trotter. And all the high society connections in the world aren't going to ensure that Pauline makes it home alive. . . .
305 pages, Paperback
First published March 24, 2009
10 people are currently reading
121 people want to read
About the author
Catherine O'Connell
13 books71 followersChicago native Catherine O'Connell is the author of five novels: First Tracks, The Last Night Out, Well Read and Dead, Well Bred and Dead, and Skins.
A graduate of the University of Colorado School of Journalism, she has worked in a number of roles in various fields, including hotel maid, bar manager, floor runner at the Chicago Board of Trade, sommelier, and sales executive in the fine wine business. Her varied experiences give her insight into many walks of life that she incorporates into her writing.
A member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, she sits on the board of the Aspen Words, the literary branch of the Aspen Institute. She has also served as a moderator of the Great Books and Sharing Shakespeare programs at the Aspen Institute.
Catherine has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, the Cox network, and numerous radio shows, including WGN Radio's Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan.
A consummate reader, wine expert, skier, back-country hiker, and biker, she divides her time between Aspen, Chicago, and Paris.
A graduate of the University of Colorado School of Journalism, she has worked in a number of roles in various fields, including hotel maid, bar manager, floor runner at the Chicago Board of Trade, sommelier, and sales executive in the fine wine business. Her varied experiences give her insight into many walks of life that she incorporates into her writing.
A member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, she sits on the board of the Aspen Words, the literary branch of the Aspen Institute. She has also served as a moderator of the Great Books and Sharing Shakespeare programs at the Aspen Institute.
Catherine has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, the Cox network, and numerous radio shows, including WGN Radio's Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan.
A consummate reader, wine expert, skier, back-country hiker, and biker, she divides her time between Aspen, Chicago, and Paris.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 6, 2011
Lifestyles of the rich and famous. A bunch of snobs whose most important concern is having to stay in less than a suite in a hotel or riding in a vehicle with other "dirty" people. I thought this sounded like a fun mystery, but as it turns out it is a more of a romance, with class being the primary barrier to their togetherness. I found the main character shallow and self centered. Maybe I just could not muster the sympathy for someone who only had two million dollars to survive on. Her friend is missing and she seems more worried about her cat. The primary reason she sets out to find the "so called" friend was that there would be $10,000,000 in it for her. The relationships were as superficial as the people portraying them.
I thought this was going to be a murder mystery, the first one to die was in the last 30 pages of the book (no mystery in the death), then we racked a body count of 4 in those last pages, none of which were mysteries either. Suddenly in the last few pages, we realize the entire book comes full circle and added a new character out of nowhere to resolve questions.
I enjoyed the travel, looking into the lifestyles of the rich and self-centered. The message or information regarding the "rag" trade and sweatshops was good, but too little in the scheme of the story.
Not my favorite book of the year.
I thought this was going to be a murder mystery, the first one to die was in the last 30 pages of the book (no mystery in the death), then we racked a body count of 4 in those last pages, none of which were mysteries either. Suddenly in the last few pages, we realize the entire book comes full circle and added a new character out of nowhere to resolve questions.
I enjoyed the travel, looking into the lifestyles of the rich and self-centered. The message or information regarding the "rag" trade and sweatshops was good, but too little in the scheme of the story.
Not my favorite book of the year.
January 2, 2018
CW warning- sexual acts (relevant to what happened in the book)
I think aspects of this were supposed to be funny, or ironic or tongue in cheek or something but it mostly fell flat with me. Pauline cook is very privileged and remarkably selfish. I can well believe there are people like her in the world but I don't like reading about them too much. She cares about fashion and society and what people think of her and her life seems pretty empty apart from that. She is contradictory as a character- firstly because she seems to have read and understood a lot of literature (poetry in particular)...I found it neat that the chapters were all names after classics (some were better fits than others) but she is empty headed enough to not have even a passing interest in politics or real relationships and to consistently make terrible decisions.
She is presented as an aging "woman of the world" but at the same time she freaks out at the thought of a hand-job or sodomy (sodomy is somehow worse than "normal" rape and after going out of her way to seduce and old, ugly but filthy rich entitled bastard she is shocked when he wants a hand-job). She doesn't know what "cougar" means and can;t use a computer (not even a little bit).
She is extremely racist which from the frequency and extremity of the comments makes me think it is supposed to pass for humour (didn't crack a smile, even though my nationality was one of the ones insulted). There are two jabs against "political correctness", one where Tag threatens to spank her for being spoilt. UGH!!!! I could not deal with him as a serious "love interest" after that. I'd expect that more from one of the disgusting rich men.
Then Pauine is stupid. She is scared of a man following her all around Cambodia and Thailand so at the first opportunity she goes off with him to a brothel without anyone coming with her or knowing where she is. Gee, that's definitely going to end well even if he DOES know where Whitney is. Whitney was in some ways one of the slightly better things in the novel, being a trans-woman portrayed sympathetically (without being idolised or pushing out other women as inferior). Pauline's relationships with men seem based on sex and money and her relationships with women seem catty and superficial. The story of how she follows Whitney's thinking to find some element of meaning and refleivity in her life gets buried under the avalanche of her "love" for Tag. Having learned about sweat-shops and big questions of ethics, freedom, equality all that Pauline muses that whether to sleep with Tag "had become the biggest question of all" (254) so when he gets presented as teaching her to be less shallow- not really!
Anyway I did like all the literary nods. I didn't like the clumsiness of the language in some sentences but I guess overall it had a great flow which was why I was surprised and displeased when it didn't. I almost liked it in a drunk, soporific, I don't want to overthink things at this time of year sort of a way (if I meticulously labelled as "humour" all the offensive bits) but really...nope it fell flat for me.
It's a shame, I think there was potential somewhere here...
I think aspects of this were supposed to be funny, or ironic or tongue in cheek or something but it mostly fell flat with me. Pauline cook is very privileged and remarkably selfish. I can well believe there are people like her in the world but I don't like reading about them too much. She cares about fashion and society and what people think of her and her life seems pretty empty apart from that. She is contradictory as a character- firstly because she seems to have read and understood a lot of literature (poetry in particular)...I found it neat that the chapters were all names after classics (some were better fits than others) but she is empty headed enough to not have even a passing interest in politics or real relationships and to consistently make terrible decisions.
She is presented as an aging "woman of the world" but at the same time she freaks out at the thought of a hand-job or sodomy (sodomy is somehow worse than "normal" rape and after going out of her way to seduce and old, ugly but filthy rich entitled bastard she is shocked when he wants a hand-job). She doesn't know what "cougar" means and can;t use a computer (not even a little bit).
She is extremely racist which from the frequency and extremity of the comments makes me think it is supposed to pass for humour (didn't crack a smile, even though my nationality was one of the ones insulted). There are two jabs against "political correctness", one where Tag threatens to spank her for being spoilt. UGH!!!! I could not deal with him as a serious "love interest" after that. I'd expect that more from one of the disgusting rich men.
Then Pauine is stupid. She is scared of a man following her all around Cambodia and Thailand so at the first opportunity she goes off with him to a brothel without anyone coming with her or knowing where she is. Gee, that's definitely going to end well even if he DOES know where Whitney is. Whitney was in some ways one of the slightly better things in the novel, being a trans-woman portrayed sympathetically (without being idolised or pushing out other women as inferior). Pauline's relationships with men seem based on sex and money and her relationships with women seem catty and superficial. The story of how she follows Whitney's thinking to find some element of meaning and refleivity in her life gets buried under the avalanche of her "love" for Tag. Having learned about sweat-shops and big questions of ethics, freedom, equality all that Pauline muses that whether to sleep with Tag "had become the biggest question of all" (254) so when he gets presented as teaching her to be less shallow- not really!
Anyway I did like all the literary nods. I didn't like the clumsiness of the language in some sentences but I guess overall it had a great flow which was why I was surprised and displeased when it didn't. I almost liked it in a drunk, soporific, I don't want to overthink things at this time of year sort of a way (if I meticulously labelled as "humour" all the offensive bits) but really...nope it fell flat for me.
It's a shame, I think there was potential somewhere here...
March 24, 2009
Chicago socialite and widow Pauline Cook is still looking for love and security--after all, a woman can't live on $2,000,000!--when she learns that her friend Whitney Armstrong has disappeared. Whitney's forlorn husband offers $10,000,000 to Pauline if she can find out what happened to his wife, but Pauline is almost as much motivated by the fact that Whitney took Pauline's cat with her, and Pauline needs Fleur back! The search for Whitney takes Pauline to places she's never dreamt of, and that's not in a good way. At the same time, Pauline is fighting her attraction to a totally unsuitable man, and her lack of attraction to someone who could give her the richest and status that she so badly wants. Pauline's lack of self-awareness can grate, but when it comes to the crunch, she does come through and do the right thing.
September 22, 2009
Spolier alert...
The mystery was surprisingly bad after a promising start. The case involves the disappearance of a missing socialite. After dragging out the plotlines of the investigation and romances of the female protagonist Pauline, the author wraps up the tale quickly in the last 10 pages. The most disappointing and sloppy aspect of this was the death of TJ, Pauline's lover. A few pages of mourning later, she has met and married another man who has bestowed upon her a Harry Winston diamond ring. The commentaries on classism and sexism were weakly done.
The mystery was surprisingly bad after a promising start. The case involves the disappearance of a missing socialite. After dragging out the plotlines of the investigation and romances of the female protagonist Pauline, the author wraps up the tale quickly in the last 10 pages. The most disappointing and sloppy aspect of this was the death of TJ, Pauline's lover. A few pages of mourning later, she has met and married another man who has bestowed upon her a Harry Winston diamond ring. The commentaries on classism and sexism were weakly done.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2019
The mystery was good - the romance seemed a bit shoehorned in and the constant name-dropping of expensive brands got a little tiresome in the second half. Still, a pretty okay read, short and entertaining enough.
May 27, 2019
She's really not a nice person
May 20, 2024
A library find.
May 2024.
Not my cup of tea.
May 2024.
Not my cup of tea.
April 7, 2013
Meh. Not very good. The heroine is only rich (sometimes) and plucky. I found her neither likeable or smart. She may be intended to grow on you, since this is a second in a series, but I don't have the patience to wait for her to be enlightened. In this book, socialite Pauline Cook investigates the mysterious disappearance of her transgendered friend and ultra society wife, eventually ending up in the sweatshops of Thailand.
January 26, 2014
Picked this up in Aspen, Colorado and had to laugh at the wry wit of high society, the protag keeping up appearances when the money's gone. A brainless plot to find a missing friend and a missing cat that turns into a fairly complicated narrative involving betrayal and international travel. Enjoyed the quick read, and thinking of the author who divides her time between Chicago and Aspen, Colorado.
I have Well Bred and Dead somewhere, but where? Too many tbr...
I have Well Bred and Dead somewhere, but where? Too many tbr...
July 28, 2011
Fun summer read if you are looking for something escapist and silly. The story takes place in my lovely Chicago on the Gold Coast. Things got a bit too ridiculous when the Prada-wearing protagonist ends up in Phnom Penh, but I got over that and was soon distracted by the descriptions of her hunky contractor, rare book collection and gorgeous penthouse condo.
February 5, 2017
I always feel like I need a different rating scale for non-fiction vs. fiction - this was a fun, light read which managed to work in some pretty heavy issues. The writing was good and of course I liked that it was set in Chicago.
March 26, 2009
A light but entertaining read about a high society lady in Chicago who becomes somewhat of a sleuth. Great plot, characters and interesting observations about the social ladder. A nice change of pace after coming off of reading two very serious books - great vacation or beach read.
February 7, 2010
Even better than "Well Bred and Dead." It took me most of the book to really realize, but each chapter title relates to ... well, the title of a book that someone who is well read is likely to have read.
August 20, 2010
Great fast read and perfect summer book. Fun to read about the lifestyle of the very rich instead of the poor and poverty-ridden masses! Imagine hiding from the market crash by renting a yacht and an attractive captain and just cruising around the Mediterranean until you feel you can deal with it.
November 12, 2010
Great read. It was nice to read a book that I look forward to picking up. I did this so much so that I read it in the a.m. before rising (a real rarity for me). I can't wait to read Ms. O'Connell's future writings.
June 2, 2013
I enjoyed this book because the story is well-written and fast moving with many twists. I had a problem with it since the biases of the wealthy towards the middle class are expressed blatantly. I only hope this was for the book and not truly the author's beliefs!
October 21, 2016
What would you do if you had little money left and very, very expensive tastes? Would you agree to search for your missing best friend for 1 million dollars even though you are not a detective and it might be dangerous? What would you do to maintain your lifestyle?
August 3, 2009
so funny
September 11, 2009
Well written and intelligent. A bit too shallow and label conscious for my tastes.
October 24, 2010
Fun easy read, but nothing too spectacular. Fun to get the perception of "regular" people from a snob.
March 5, 2016
same as well bred & dead. chicago scene with all the right places & the jet set. this one has a bit of more foreign travel - not realistic at all but none the less easy fun read.
March 10, 2016
Good mindless mystery made more interesting by being set in Chicago.
October 6, 2009
Total chick book, tried to finish twice. Gave up
August 1, 2014
A fast fun read.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews