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.