Name Dropping
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
This tale of murder and mistaken identity in a Manhattan apartment building is “a rollicking and delectable read” by a New York Times–bestselling author (People).
A teacher at a fancy Manhattan preschool, Nancy Stern spends her days cleaning spills, moderating bathroom breaks, and preventing that one kid in the back of the room from eating glue. With America’s precious future in her hands, Nancy rises to the occasion—but sometimes she yearns for something a little more glamorous.
Meanwhile, another woman by the name of Nancy Stern has moved into her apartment building—and as if the constant mail mix-ups aren’t annoying enough, every mistaken delivery and misdirected message reminds her that the other Nancy Stern is outshining her by far. That pile of exclusive party invitations spilling out of her mailbox? Not for her. The stunning coat that’s arrived straight from the cleaners? Not a chance. And that smooth voice on the other end of the line calling to ask Nancy out on a blind date?
Now that is something the penthouse-floor Nancy Stern doesn’t have to find out about . . .
But while her night out with the hunk stirs up a romance, The other Nancy gets murdered. And suddenly the real identity of not just the killer, but the intended victim, is a mystery in desperate need of solving . . .
“Very funny . . . When teacher Nancy accepts a blind date meant for the other Nancy, things rapidly spiral out of control. Murder and mayhem follow, all in Heller’s trademark witty and entertaining style.” —Library Journal
“A charmingly improbable love story.” —USA Today
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Heller proves once again that she has breeziness down to an artful science. In her latest romantic suspense novel (after Sis Boom Bah), there's another powerful premise as well as a quirkily humorous heroine to hang it on. Nancy Stern, self-described Brunette Who Keeps Her Head, is a teacher at Manhattan's Small Blessings, a tony preschool where ultrachic parents deposit their "trophy offspring." Not completely satisfied with her lot in life, Nancy finds herself suffering from serious envy when a second Nancy Stern--who turns out to be a glamorous celebrity journalist--moves into her building and Nancy I begins to find $10,000 AmEx bills and invitations to private movie screenings in her mailbox and phone messages from ardent male admirers. Nancy I is intrigued, desperately wanting to learn if the grass is really greener; when she gets another misdirected phone call, this time from a man asking for a blind date, she decides to be Cinderella for one night and impersonate Nancy II. The blind date turns out to be the man of her dreams, but now that she's told him so many creative untruths, how can she ever go straight? To complicate matters, Nancy II is soon murdered and Nancy I finds herself caught up in a new existence that's even more exciting than she bargained for. Those without cause to take it personally will find it a treat to see Heller turn her culturally observant wit on certain parenting trends. There's even a rollicking and appropriately themed "shoot-out" to go with the nursery school setting. With a dearth of fleshed-out suspects for the murder, the mystery aspect of the book is somewhat shortchanged, but most readers will come for the fast pace and the fun, of which there's plenty.
