MANOR HOUSE

Enter Pierpont Tree and China Carlyle: he's the devastatingly handsome and urbane scion of an old Santa Barbara family; she's a ravishingly beautiful flame-haired film star who retired at the peak of her career.  He minds the family ranch; she dabbles in writing.  Together, they investigate murders.

And the murder of Beau Paxton leaves Pier and China with quite a crowd of suspects: the twin brothers who own Manor House--and who held a multimillion-dollar insurance policy on Beau's life; the beautiful young managing editor, the real brains behind Beau's flashy, figurehead position; the society gossip columnist who coveted Beau's position for herself; Beau's roommate and "uncle," who argued with him publicly the night of the murder; and a whole world of designers and dealers, players and wanna-be's, high rollers and lowlifes, whose desires and ambitions make Manor House a magazine to die for.  

With the kind of knowledge and attention to detail only a seasoned insider can supply, Paige Rense takes us on an unflaggingly stylish journey to the heart of the mystery, and in the process offers a keyhole peep into some of the most private, rarefied chambers in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and New York--a world where people pay $750,000 for an antique desk, and a wealthy widow refits her barbecue pit with an eternal flame in memory of her late decorator.  Elegant, witty, and wise, Manor House is a boundingly readable novel from the pen of a compelling writer.

Paige Rense plotted and executed the rise of Architectural Digest to the pinnacle it sits on today--the top of the highly competitive field of international design publications.  For several years she was the only person to hold the position of editor in chief of three magazines simultaneously--Architectural Digest, Bon Appetit, and Geo.  She has also edited eleven Architectural Digest books, including The Worlds of...series, and is the author of Decorating for Celebrities.  A longtime resident of Santa Barbara, Rense now divides her time between Los Angeles, New York, and Vermont, where she lives with her husband, the artist Kenneth Noland.