Bless Your Heart
- Judith D Collins
- Jul 18
- 3 min read
By: Leigh Dunlap
ISBN: 9798892422710
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: 08/12/2025
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
Motherhood and murder link five very different women when a working-class detective clashes with wealthy moms in this upmarket thriller in the vein of May Cobb and Jeneva Rose.
Anderson Tupper, a member of one of Atlanta’s richest families, has been murdered in the dugout of the Little League field where he was a volunteer coach, and it’s up to Detective Shay Claypool, a single mother from the other side of town, to find his killer.
With the exclusive area of Buckhead threatening to secede from the city of Atlanta and take its tax revenue with it, Shay is under pressure to solve the murder of one of Buckhead’s own. Accustomed to handling drug dealers and prostitutes, she must now contend with an even more sinister group: the Buckhead Betties, the insufferably entitled women of Georgia’s most affluent zip code. One of them might be a murderer, but who? Is it the old-money queen of Buckhead? The mysterious new girl in town? The drug dealing trophy wife?
It seems secrets and lies are as plentiful as luxury handbags in Atlanta and everyone’s guilty of something. Shay’s investigation will make her examine her own prejudices and discover that, as women and mothers, she might not be that different from the Betties after all. And if she isn’t careful, they just might take her down with them.
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Praise
“Audacious, wry, and darkly hilarious. This murderous mix of revealing social commentary mixed with a solid mystery is magnolia sweet and sharply mordant as only an insider’s southern gimlet eye can be. Designing Women meets Big Little Lies in this witty, voicey pageturner!”
—Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of The House Guest
“A little bit Desperate Housewives, a little bit Jacqueline Susann, and the delicious whiff of camp . . . This is a hoot.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Dunlap masterfully weaves class tension and maternal instinct into a heart-pounding thriller that grips you from the first page. Detective Shay Claypool crashes through the pristine veneer of Buckhead society, exposing the dark secrets lurking beneath designer handbags and country club memberships. The “Buckhead Betties” circle their wagons as Shay hunts for a killer among Atlanta’s elite, challenging everyone’s assumptions about privilege and justice. Brimming with southern charm and lethal ambition, Bless Your Heart delivers a wickedly entertaining reminder that motherhood might unite women across social divides, but murder reveals who they truly are.”
—Kaira Rouda, USA Today bestselling author of Jill Is Not Happy and We Were Never Friends
“A riveting thriller that lays bare the tensions in a steamy Atlanta neighborhood – this page-turner is perfect for fans of May Cobb and Jeneva Rose.”
—Aggie Blum Thompson, author of Such a Lovely Family
“Equal parts murder mystery and social satire, Leigh Dunlap’s Bless Your Heart is a savagely gleeful take on the Atlanta elite, Law & Order meets Desperate Housewives. Beneath the glamorous surface, though, Dunlap considers weighty issues such as race, class, and money. As a longtime resident of Atlanta, when reading Dunlap’s debut I both laughed out loud and squirmed in my seat, although I laughed more often. Dunlap is a witty and vicious satirist in addition to being a compelling mystery writer. Murder mysteries open all kinds of doors, allowing readers access to hidden truths that are both shocking and shallow. Dunlap accomplishes this with particular verve and skill, sparing no one. “Who killed Anderson Tupper?” may be the question at the heart of the plot, but as Dunlap leads us inside the privileged walls of Atlanta mansions and into the worlds of both the Buckhead Betties and the detective searching for a killer, we may start wondering if there are more deserving victims.”
—Christopher Swann, award-winning author of Never Back Down
About the Author
I wrote the hit movie A Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff, a film that spawned a successful Warner Brothers franchise of five movies. I also wrote Spy Girls, based on the popular teen book series, for producer Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting) and Camp Rockaway for Sony Pictures and producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher (Gladiator, Stuart Little). My film, 16-Love was Time Warner Digital’s top release of 2012. The Standoff, with Olivia Holt (Cruel Summer) and Alex Wolff (Jumanji, Inheritance, Pig), which I wrote and co-produced, was released on Netflix. I attended the film writing program at the USC School of Cinema-Television and have also written a novel - Bless Your Heart - about money, motherhood and murder - coming on August 12, 2025 from Crooked Lane Books. I'm also fairly good at Wordle and Spelling Bee. WEBSITE
