Sunday, July 5, 2020

Off the Bookshelf: MISADVENTURES OF THE LAUNDRY HAG: SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET, by Jennifer L. Hart

This is a fun, kind of snarky, kind of slapstick, kind of scary suspense story told through the eyes of an overwhelmed SEAL wife.

Maggie and her hero husband, Neil, and their two boys are settling into civilian life. Thanksgiving is coming and the demanding in-laws are not only descending on the house, but they're bringing business guests and dictating the menu and redecorating the house. Can you tell that nothing Maggie does will ever be good enough?

In the middle of this, Maggie is trying to get to know the neighbors, who all seem far too upscale for her. A new friend is trying to be helpful and somehow Maggie finds herself signed up to be the cleaning lady for their snooty hostess. Yes, she needs some extra income, but right now?

Before she knows it, Maggie is in the middle of a murder investigation, the unwitting alibi for the suspect husband. She investigates and keeps tripping over more bodies and some pretty unsavory characters -- and arrested, when she did nothing wrong. Except be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Oh yeah, and there was the time her van died and she needed to get the Thanksgiving menu shopping done, so she walked to the grocery store pushing the wheelbarrow to carry all the groceries -- and the wheelbarrow got stolen while she was in the store. And then found with a dead body in it.

Whew! This is a romp and a clever suspense tale, full of humor. And poor Maggie seems doomed to be everybody's cleaning lady -- at the behest of the police who think she might, possibly, somehow, be helpful.

Sounds like more stories are coming!

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