Helen Macie Osterman The Accidental Sleuth

The Accidental Sleuth

Helen Macie Osterman

Five Star, August 2007, $25.5, 273 pp.

ISBN: 9781594145810

Sixty year old Emma Winberry has been living in her town condominium for the last four months after selling her home and she has never been happier. Nate Sandler adores Emma even if he isn't quite sure he believes in her sixth sense and her Guardian Angel. When new neighbors move in next door, she meets Laura Evans a frightened woman and teenage anorexic looking Teresa who is devoted to her aunt. The husband is rarely seen but Emma gets the impression he is a brute who abuses the women in his life. She fears that something that will happen to Teresa and it does.

Something horrific happens to Emma when she is mistakenly snatched by two thugs who leave her tied up in an old apartment. She breaks free of her bonds with the help of her guardian Angel and a homeless man who is living in the abandoned building saves her. Jake persuades Minnie to come forward to give back what she took from a man that was killed. While helping Minnie and Jake, the homeless man who found and helped her get medical attention after she escaped from the kidnappers, she finds herself in danger from hoodlums seeking her neighbors; Emma vows to keep them safe even if it means carrying a gun.

Emma is strong, independent and willing to help others. This makes her the perfect role model for women to emulate. Although those is no blood and gore and the murder happens before the book begins, this is a delightful sometimes humorous cozy. The secondary characters of Minnie and Jake, two homeless but not helpless people are as important as the heroine because they enhance the plot with depth especially enabling the audience to better understand what motivates Emma.

Harriet Klausner