Book Review: A Deadly Arrangement

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

A Deadly Arrangement     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Denise Osborne
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character   Police Procedural   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Salome Waterhouse # 1
Berkley, Sep 2001, $5.99, 256 pp.

For five years, bicoastal traveler Salome Waterhouse rented out the Perfume Mansion in Holyrood off of Monterey Bay to artist Palmer Fordham. Because she feels the place has bad vibes, Salome, a practitioner of Feng Shui, has not entered the place in years. However, this morning she goes there because an anonymous person hired her to Feng Shui the place as a birthday present to Palmer.

Instead of her usual scenario, Salome finds a murdered Palmer in the house and immediately calls her cousin Phyllis, chief of police. Phyllis arrives and takes charge of the crime scene while treating Salome with contempt and as the prime suspect. Phyllis always blamed Salome for inheriting the Perfume Mansion, a place she covets. After feeling her cousin’s negative vibes Salome knows that she need some strong Feng Shui medicine to prove her innocence and to clean the evil that resides in her mansion.

A DEADLY ARRANGEMENT is a different type of police procedural-amateur sleuth tale due to the large amounts of Feng Shui incorporated throughout the plot. The story line is cleverly designed but is disrupted by the swings back and forth in time. Salome is an interesting and refreshing lead character and the cast’s varying degrees of acceptance of her leads to greater understanding of the protagonist and her practice. Followers of Feng Shui will feel the positive vibes emanating from this plot while other readers will say phooey to way too much Feng Shui.

Harriet Klausner

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