Dusted to Death

Each book in this series is wonderful, and this one certainly doesn't disappoint. Ms. Colley just keeps getting better. Her characters and their situations in New Orleans keep reader interest throughout. I highly recommend this book!

I have recently discovered Barbara Colley's Charlotte Larue mysteries series and I've read all seven of them in the past few weeks. I love this 60-something cleaning lady! She is smart, gutsy, good sense of right versus wrong...and very good at her job! This last one (so far) is my favorite but each one of them have been excellent. I hope Ms. Colley continues with this series as I feel like "one of the Larue family"!

In New Orleans at sixty-three years of age, Charlotte LaRue still has the energy to perform the work of her business Maid for a Day as she cleans for selected clients who prefer her only. Bitsy Dhue asks Charlotte to watch her Victorian house as well as keeping it clean because a movie company is going to film there. It is a two week gig and she will receive $5000 for this pristine assignment. One of the movie stars is Angel Martinique who has the reputation of her first name, but as Charlotte quickly learns G-string is apropos rather than the G rating reputation of this Hollywood heater, who away from the lights is a spoiled virago. Charlotte enters a room to find the body of Angel's boyfriend Nick Franklin. She also notices next to the corpse, the letter opener used in a recent Angel scene and later confirmed by the cops as the murder weapon. Angel is arrested but her chauffeur Benny who loves her persuades Charlotte, whom he has heard solved homicides, to help him prove her innocence by finding the real culprit. This amateur sleuth is terrific due to the Hollywood invasion that leads to an intricately created mystery. The heroine has strong instincts and her work enables her to notice clues in what seems like spotless segues. Fans will enjoy Charlotte cleaning up the crime scene not aware the killer is watching her . Harriet Klausner