Book Review: Death Tidies Up

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Death Tidies Up     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Barbara Colley
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Cozy   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Charlotte Larue
Kensington, Feb 2003, $22.00, 204 pp.

In New Orleans, though she fears her upcoming sixtieth birthday because that sounds old, Charlotte LaRue feels quite good about her cleaning company, Maid for a Day. Her small firm won a contract from realtor Marian Hebert to clean the renovated Devilier Apartments before the tenants take residency.

However, the cleaning crew finds a dead body in a closet in one of the rooms. The police led by Charlotte’s niece and her tenant arrive to investigate. The corpse turns out to be Drew Bergerson, who allegedly died two years ago in a plane crash into the Gulf of Mexico. Though told to stay out, Charlotte wonders if this death is connected to the supposed accidental explosion nine months ago that killed Marian’s husband as she tries to sweep clean the homicide in her own unique manner.

DEATH TIDIES UP is an attractive amateur sleuth-police procedural that reader will relish because the engaging staff, especially the charming star, makes for fun reading. The cozy style who-done-it will hook the audience because of the warm cast though the answers to the murder mystery seem strange. Barbara Colley provides an entertaining cozy that will send the audience seeking the first LaRue novel, MAID FOR MURDER, which is being re-released as a paperback in January.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner