Big Boned by Meg Cabot (Heather Wells #3)
Published: 2007
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
E-book, English edition, 280 pages

Blurb:

Life is reasonably rosy for plus-size ex-pop star turned Assistant Dormitory Director and sometime sleuth Heather Wells. Her freeloading ex-con dad is finally moving out. She still yearns for her hot landlord, Cooper Cartwright, but her relationship with "rebound beau," vigorous vegan math professor Tad Tocco, is more than satisfactory. Best of all, nobody has died lately in "Death Dorm," the aptly nicknamed student residence that Heather assistant-directs. Of course every silver lining ultimately has some black cloud attached. And when the latest murdered corpse to clutter up her jurisdiction turns out to be her exceedingly unlovable boss, Heather finds herself on the shortlist of prime suspects—along with the rabble-rousing boyfriend of her high-strung student assistant and an indecently handsome young campus minister who's been accused of taking liberties with certain girls' choir members.

With fame beckoning her back into show business (as the star of a new kids' show!) it's a really bad time to get wrapped up in another homicide. Plus Tad's been working himself up to ask her a Big Question, which Heather's not sure she has an answer for . . .

Ulasan:

Hidup Heather Wells berjalan lancar setelah kasus sebelumnya tertangani. Walaupun itu artinya ia mendapat bos baru lagi, karena bos lamanya dipromosikan. Ia juga masih kuliah di tempatnya bekerja. Lebih baik lagi, ia dapat pacar.

Tapi sepertinya Heather tidak puas dapat pacar. Walaupun ada rasa bangga juga, karena disamping ukurannya (yang baginya tidak membanggakan), ia bisa punya pacar lagi. Masalahnya, orang yang disukainya bukanlah pacarnya. Dia juga ditaksir mahasiswa yang usianya lebih muda darinya, tapi Heather hanya menganggapnya seperti adik.

Ketika masih bingung dengan perasaannya dan bagaimana cara menghadapinya, Heather mendapat kejutan. Bos barunya ditemukan tewas tertembak di ruangannya.

Reputasi asrama mahasiswa tempatnya bekerja yang sudah buruk jadi makin buruk. Sampai para polisi yang bertugas jadi akrab dengan tempat itu. Namanya jadi Asrama Kematian—Death Dorm. Mungkin tempat itu memang dikutuk. Hahahaa… Selain kasus, ia juga harus menghadapi demo mahasiswa.

Dari kasus-kasus sebelumnya, ia juga jadi lebih dipercaya oleh mahasiswa yang tinggal di asrama itu, sehingga ia bisa mendapat banyak petunjuk untuk kasus yang terjadi. Heather memang kesannya friendly. Walaupun ia orang dewasa, ia tidak terkesan menggurui. Sebetulnya Heather tidak bermaksud untuk secara langsung mengusut kasus yang terjadi. Ia hanya berniat untuk menolong temannya dan orang-orang terdekatnya.

Kasusnya setipe dengan kasus sebelumnya. Walaupun motifnya lebih umum. Tapi penyelesaian dramatisnya masih sama. Heather lebih ceroboh daripada buku sebelumnya. Tindakan spontannya benar-benar nekat.

Di samping penyelesaian kasus, cerita buku ini tidak melulu tentang Heather. Narasinya masih sama, yaitu dari sudut pandang Heather, tapi ia juga menceritakan orang-orang di sekitarnya. Komentar Heather masih sering bikin ngikik. Hihihi…


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Tentang penulis:

Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot was born on February 1, 1967, during the Chinese astrological year of the Fire Horse, a notoriously unlucky sign. Fortunately she grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, where few people were aware of the stigma of being a fire horse -- at least until Meg became a teenager, when she flunked freshman Algebra twice, then decided to cut her own bangs. After six years as an undergrad at Indiana University, Meg moved to New York City (in the middle of a sanitation worker strike) to pursue a career as an illustrator, at which she failed miserably, forcing her to turn to her favorite hobby--writing novels--for emotional succor. She worked various jobs to pay the rent, including a decade-long stint as the assistant manager of a 700 bed freshmen dormitory at NYU, a position she still occasionally misses.

She is now the author of nearly fifty books for both adults and teens, selling fifteen million copies worldwide, many of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers, most notably The Princess Diaries series, which is currently being published in over 38 countries, and was made into two hit movies by Disney. In addition, Meg wrote the Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-You? series (on which the television series, Missing, was based), two All-American Girl books, Teen Idol, Avalon High, How to Be Popular, Pants on Fire, Jinx, a series of novels written entirely in email format (Boy Next Door, Boy Meets Girl, and Every Boy's Got One), a mystery series (Size 12 Is Not Fat/ Size 14 Is Not Fat Either/Big Boned), and a chick-lit series called Queen of Babble.

Meg is now writing a new children's series called Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls. Her new paranormal series, Abandon, debuts in Summer of 2011.

Meg currently divides her time between Key West, Indiana, and New York City with a primary cat (one-eyed Henrietta), various back-up cats, and her husband, who doesn't know he married a fire horse. Please don't tell him.