Thursday, June 28, 2012

Review - Death Tidies Up

Title: Death Tidies Up
Authors: Barbara Colley
Publisher: Kensington (January 1, 2004)
Format: Paperback
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: Library
Series: Charlotte LaRue #2

Such a disappointment. The first third of the book I spent counting how many times Ms Colley used the same word in a paragraph and spent little time following the very thin plotline. By the middle of the book, I mind blanked because I remember neither multiple word usage nor a plotline. By the end, whole paragraphs could have been removed and the overall storyline, what there was of it, could have held. As I said, the book was a letdown.

Begrudging her upcoming sixtieth birthday, Charlotte LaRue, owner of Maid For A Day, grabs her cleaning supplies and heads out to her next major project, an older home in the Garden District of New Orleans that has been changed into individual apartments. When she hears the screams of one of her employees, she runs to aid only to discover a body in the closet dressed in boxers and a mardi gras mask.

Not that that scene was strange enough, but under the mask was a man that was declared dead two years prior. How can that be? Charlotte's company rules of not messing in her client's business and her need to meddle conflict as she helps her niece, the police detective, and Louis her next-door neighbor solve this mystery.

I recall the first book, Maid for Murder being much better so I am not sure what went wrong. The storyline was too slow and meandering with no real direction until the last 15 percent of the book where presto-chango, the murderer was discovered and they all lived happily ever after.

I hope that the remaining books in this series are better, but I was so turned off by the book that I do not think I will be rushing to the next installment.

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