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.
Intrigued? Well we are delighted to be revealing the cover for Leigh Dunlap’s Bless Your Heart, so read on to discover the cover and synopsis, and don’t forget to preorder your copy here, which releases on 12 August 2025.
But first, here’s some words from the author herself!
THE URBAN DICTIONARY:
BUCKHEAD BETTY – A catty and pretentious female living in the Buckhead area of Atlanta who comes from money or marries into it. The Betty tends to be insufferably entitled and stubbornly closed-minded. Totem: A Goyard bag. Catchphrase: “Bless your heart!”
“The rest of the world has ‘Karens’ but in Atlanta they have the ‘Buckhead Betties.’ I lived amongst them for a while, although I’ll never admit to having been one. No one thinks they’re a Betty. They can be generous and thoughtful and awful and catty, seemingly all at the same time. I wanted to write a thriller about the Betties and about Atlanta. It’s a unique place, a mix of race and privilege and the old South and the new, all mixed together with poisonous pollen and oppressive humidity. It’s the perfect setting for a murder mystery.” – Leigh Dunlap
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leigh Dunlap is the screenwriter behind the hit movie, A Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff. She 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). Her movie, 16-Love was one of Gravitas’ and Warner Digital’s top titles and The Standoff, starring Olivia Holt and Alex Wolff, was released on Netflix.
