Elaine Viets, Murder Unleashed

Murder Unleashed

Elaine Viets

NAL, May, 2006, $19.95

ISBN 045121840X

Refusing to pay alimony to her cheating lazy former spouse, as the Judge ruled claiming he was a devoted house husband who enabled her to achieve career success, Helen Hawthorne fled her life as a thriving businesswoman in St. Louis to work off the books in southern Florida. She quickly learns that proprietors, at least in the Fort Lauderdale area, are not concerned with your past or your social security number, though none of her jobs come decimally close to the six figures she annually earned in Missouri.

Currently Helen works off the books at Pampered Pets in Fort Lauderdale. Two customers have recently been murdered. Nymphomaniac trophy wife Tammie Grimsby and Willoughby Barclay, who is in a legal divorce fight with his wife. The biggest arguments are over custody of their child Barkley the "Labradoodle". Though she knows better to mind her business, as she has a recent history of unsafe involvement (see SHOP TILL YOU DROP and JUST MURDERED), Helen investigates anyway.

The fifth Dead-End Job Mystery is a delightful lampooning of the pet world, where canines serve as chic accessories so an owner can be part of the "in-crowd", regardless of the abuse of the animal. The amateur sleuth investigation, as always in this series, is fun to follow because of the acerbic asides by the heroine who assumes the mantle of K-9 champion, even as she referees between battling groomers while seeking the killer amidst a litter of suspects. Readers will enjoy Elaine Viets delightful satirizing whodunit.