Over His Dead Body

As a departure from her April Woo series, this is a delightful success. While not being a ordinary murder mystery, this does offer suspense when you realize every chapter reveals more information about her comatose husband. He turns out to be one of the most selfish cads I've read about in recent books. What makes this delightful is Ms. Glass's sense of humor about the thoroughly dislikable cast of characters. What a ride!

This is a fun to read book. I've never read Leslie Glass before and was looking for something light to read over the weekend after a very, very long week. This was just what the doctor ordered! For those looking for a deep and meaningful book to answer life's questions, this is not for you. However, if you are looking for something to take your mind off of things, I would recommend this book. As I was reading, I really wanted to kill Mona and I kept wanting to see how it all ended. The ending is no great mystery but as I mentioned, it makes for a nice distraction from every day's challenges.

There are too few comic novels being written these days, and this book came along just in time. I am a big fan of Leslie Glass's mystery series, and this book, although not a police procedural, combines the best elements of her suspense novels with a dark comic premise. It makes for a funny, thoughtful page-turner -- I look forward to seeing what Glass does next outside the Woo series.

It seems like no one is writing comic novels anymore. This one comes along just in time. I'm a big fan of Leslie Glass's mystery series, and this new book, although not a police procedural, combines the best elements from her suspense novels with a darkly comic, modern premise. It's a funny, thoughtful page turner. Terrible title, though, and it looks like the publisher spent about six minutes and a dirty nickel on the cover art, but once I got past that I loved it. I'm looking forward to seeing what Glass does next outside her April Woo series.

It's always fun to watch an established author in one aspect of a genre tackle something different. Best-known for her noir-ish, hard-hitting 'April Woo' procedurals, Leslie Glass's latest mystery "Over His Dead Body" is a hoot-and-a-half romp on the wild side of chicanery and double-dealing peopled by a veritable smorgasbord of off-the-wall characters who become involved in an utterly bizarre series of events. Its suburban-housewife heroine, aptly-named Cassandra Sales, is frumpy, frustrated and fifty. Her twenty-six-year marriage to her work/money-obsessed, largely-absentee husband Mitchell Sales (a highly successful wine dealer with a penchant for scamming the IRS) has gone so sour that she can't remember the last time they made love, and her decidedly unlovable, constantly-bickering adult children seem like aliens from another planet. Since she apparently can't change her environment, Cassie decides to start with herself. Taking advantage of Mitch's extended absence on a European business trip, she has a facelift. While she's still in its Grand Guignol recovery stages, Mitch comes home unexpectedly, takes one look at her and drops like a stone. He winds up in a coma and diagnosed as brain-dead in the hospital, and Cassie is suddenly on her own. Trying to get a handle on Mitch's business affairs turns her world upside down. The deeper she digs, the nastier things get. Not only has her husband been cheating on her for years (aided and abetted by their lawyer, their accountant, their family doctor and various members of the firm including her own son) with his stunning, amoral 'business associate', Mona Whitman, but, between them, they have squandered huge sums of money on a lifestyle for Mona (all charged under Cassie's name) which is as different from her own simpler realities as chalk from cheese. To further complicate matters, the IRS in the person of Special Agent Charlie Schwab is taking a strong interest in what he believes to be 'her' concealed assets as part of an overall audit of Mitch's affairs. When she ultimately discovers that Mitch was planning to divorce her and keep his millions for himself and Mona, Cassie goes on the warpath. And the tables don't just turn, they rotate. "Over His Dead Body" is a delightfully-orchestrated riot of a novel that puts the fun back into dysfunctional. Just when you think things can't possibly get any crazier, Ms. Glass adds another twist to her intricate scenario, and we're off and running. Once they get their act together, Cassie and Charlie remind me a little of Nick and Nora Charles, and their tongue-in-cheek sparring not only provides a touch of wit and humor in Cassie's otherwise thoroughly dire predicament, but also adds a whole new dimension to the phrase, "Revenge is a dish best served cold". By me, "Over His Dead Body" made mighty tasty eating.