On the Avenue (Celebutantes Series #1) Book

The Hamilton Triplets—Madison, Park, and Lexington—are accustomed to living in the public eye. Heiresses to a billion-dollar media empire, they have been raised in New York's most elite social circles and, at 16, know firsthand the demands of being celebutantes. There are people to impress, appearances to make, and paparazzi to outrun. Not to mention high school to finish.

But when fashion editor Zahara Bell is found dead in a one-of-a-kind frock from Lex's unreleased clothing line, and then the priceless Avenue Diamond goes missing, getting to class is as far from the triplets' minds as their first pair of Manolos. One of the girls is a suspect, and the sisters find themselves in the middle of a scandal that could sink their reputations and their father's companies for good. And the press is ready, willing, and able to lend a hand.

The Hamilton sisters need to stick closer than ever before. The killer is still out there, and if they don't solve the case their threesome could become a twosome quicker than you can say Cartier.

Anne RouyerCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information. - School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up
The wealthy and beautiful 15-year-old Hamilton triplets-impetuous Lexington, pragmatic Park, and mini-mogul Madison-have it all and Manhattan is their playground. At a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the sisters have a troublesome encounter with a zealous paparazzo that leads them to discover the dead body of a famous fashion magazine editor. When Lexington is implicated in the murder, the teens set out to solve the case themselves. Full of snobbery, cattiness, sexual encounters, and underage drinking, this book tries very hard to be like Cecily von Ziegesar's "Gossip Girl" series (Little, Brown) and Bennett Madison's "Lulu Dark" mysteries (Sleuth/Razorbill), but it has none of the wit and knowing sarcasm that make those books so entertaining. The mystery starts off well for these wannabe Nancy Drews but it is so drawn out that, by the end, readers will lose interest in whodunit and why. Because the story is written in alternating chapters about different characters, readers don't get to know the stereotypical sisters, their boyfriends, and their employees, but since they are all so unlikable and smug, no one is likely to care.