Barbara Colley Married to the Mop

Married to the Mop

Barbara Colley

Kensington, Jan 2006, $22.00

ISBN: 0758207646

In New Orleans, Maid for a Day owner Charlotte LaRue agrees to service Emily Rossi's emergency request for help. Emily is hosting a gala for out-of-town guests attending the Mardi Gras, but her personal maid left on a family emergency. However, Charlotte has doubts, and not just because she is shorthanded, as Emily's husband, Robert is reported to be a cold-blooded crime boss, who will kill anyone in his way, including the cops suspect, his father.

Charlotte tries to concentrate on doing her job, even when she sees and hears a raging Robert screaming at everyone, as some of his Faberge eggs are missing. Still the fee is top dollar, though Charlotte does not want to know the source, so when Emily asks her to also fill in for a server, she agrees. The masquerade ball proves lethal to the mob king, as he is WIPED OUT with Emily holding the murder weapon. The cops assume the spouse did in her husband, but Charlotte thinks the police want to sweep the dirt under the rug with Fat Tuesday about to begin. Reluctantly, she investigates the other family members who hated the patriarch, as well as his opportunistic rivals and ambitious gang members.

Adhering to her policy that she was not hired as a MAID FOR MURDER, Charlotte vows to stay out of the homicide investigation. However, being who she is, when she notices little things that only a forensic expert or a cleaning person would see, she feels she must at least prove that the prime suspect is innocent. Fans will polish off her latest New Orleans adventure, though with Katrina, and now the controversy over hosting or canceling Mardi Gras, the tale has an eerie feel to it.