Now the morning after, Brian is missing and Andy thinks he may have had too good of a time, or is just ducking out of brunch with Andy’s mother Cissy and her boyfriend Stephen and their big announcement. When Andy’s phone calls to Brian go unanswered for the rest of the weekend she becomes very concerned. Brian eventually calls and tells her he’s fine, and that he misses her mother’s cabbage soup. Andy thinks that is a very odd statement because her mother is not much of a cook and is certainly not famous for her cabbage soup.

A conversation with Cissy reveals Cissy is allergic to cabbage soup, something Brian learned once, making the mother/daughter duo realize Brian must be in trouble. Andy traces Brian’s last night at the strip club and learns he left with a stripper, a stripper who has been found dead in Brian’s trunk. Now Andy isn’t the only one looking for Brian, Allie, his ex-girlfriend/colleague is looking for him as they are about to start a big case, and the police are looking for him as a “person of interest” in the stripper’s death.

Wondering how much she really knows about her boyfriend, Andy continues to search for him, and even agrees to meet kidnappers and make a ransom drop, until she realizes there is something fishy about all of this and all she wants is for Brian to come home and come clean. Oh yeah, and for her mother not to go to Vegas with Stephen.

Night of the Living Deb starts out at a fast clip, but slows down a little in the middle as Allie and Andy join forces, abetted by Cissy. The characters are quirky and funny, but Andy’s normal engaging self does not shine through as she alternates her worrying between what the status of Allie’s and Brian’s relationship is, what Brian’s relationship is to the stripper, and where the heck Brian is. Even though Andy has rebelled against the deb life, she is still a good daughter, and respects her mother’s lifestyle and shows concern for her and her new boyfriend. When Andy needs a friend, however, Stephen does not hesitate to jump in and help her. Andy manages to privately poke fun at the lifestyle she has left behind, yet willingly accepts the trust fund it left her with.

Night of the Living Deb is a fun mystery; a second layer and some insight into Andy’s relationship with her mother provide for a light respite.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry