Lucy Fooshee is a fish out of water. Living in a small Midwestern town where behavior is prescribed and expectations limited, this local beauty queen had pinned her hopes on marriage, only to be disappointed.

Pretty Is As Pretty Does is an understated black comedy with an unlikely heroine. Bright, funny, mean, egocentric, and self-deceiving Lucy understands that beneath her town's culture of politeness there is a willingness to do whatever is necessary to maintain the status quo.

Small-town, Midwestern beauty queen Lucy Fooshee begins a charming, surprising romance just two weeks after her marriage to dull Bob Bybee, a farmer from the second-richest family in the county. Lucy's un-selfconscious appreciation of her own good looks and good fortune in her marriage are endearing, as is her precipitous fall from grace when she falls madly for the nephew of Aunt Babe, a local restaurateur. Billy Lee, as the locals hiss with delight, is not altogether white, and this racist indignation over his mixed Native American heritage helps bring Lucy and Billy's shocking affair to a swift end. Lucy's realization that her perfect life is boring is the chief plot development, but she's a fresh, spunky heroine who lights up this first novel.