Friday, February 3, 2012

50% Off Murder-Josie Belle

50% Off Murder


Josie Belle

Berkley, Apr 3 2012, $7.99

ISBN: 9780425247020



St. Stanley, Virginia is a quaint village in which crime is virtually nonexistent probably due to the fact everyone knows each other on a first name basis. Maggie Gerber and her Good Buy Girls friends shop with a military precision that the pentagon ought to study as they use every legal technique known to the American economy to reduce costs to as close to ground zero as possible.



Maggie visits the newest Girl, librarian Claire Freemont at the town library. Both are shocked to find the corpse of a man with a knife protruding from his heart. A frazzled Claire explains she knew the deceased and begs Maggie not to tell the new sheriff Sam Collins. Maggie has no problem with promising Claire as Sam broke her heart fourteen years ago. The librarian further informs Maggie that she saw the victim carrying a dead person in Richmond, which is why she fled the big city for the small town. However, Collins learns of her connection to the body and has enough circumstantial evidence to arrest Claire. Believing Claire is innocent, Maggie and the GBG sisterhood investigate.



The first Good Buy Girls amateur sleuth is an entertaining cozy starring interesting characters that endear themselves to readers as do their picturesque town. Maggie is the stereotypical sub-genre heroine who runs the extra kilometer to help her new friend out of a jam while landing in a perilous situation. Still readers will admire her risk taking spunk (to include the dangerous competitive sport of thrifty shopping) and enjoy the sparks between her and the sheriff as both prefer the attraction just go away. Fans will enjoy 50%; Off Murder as there is no thrifty top to deal with a killer.



Harriet Klausner

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