Speak Ill of the Dead

a new heroine in Camilla MacPhee...Camilla, her family, her office "help" and friend Robin are a wonderful cast of characters and I look forward to diving into the next four books sitting on my shelves! Although the crimes are serious, the author has conjured up characters who will give the reader a chuckle here and there while delving into mayhem and murder. Utterly delightful....my summer reading will be complete.

Camilla Macphee will have a difficult time solving this case. A fashion guru is gruesomely murdered in her hotel suite, and Camilla's best friend Robin is the key suspect. Trying to prove her best friend's innocence, Camilla, with a little help from her annoying assistant Alvin, tries to solve the twisted case. This book will keep you guessing untill the last chapter. Since every character, somehow is involved in this case, you'll never figure whats going to happen next. But the murderer doesn't stop at one killing...he or she is leaving a trail of victims, and whoever the mystery murderer is,it seems they won't stop till they're caught.

Camillla is a great addition to the slate of female investigators. She's clever, and resourceful in handling family problems (including dealing with a gaggle of troublesome sisters, and a widowed father), and solving crimes (with her trusty, rusty albatross of a sidekick, Alvin). She attacks her work with zest. Beautiful setting in Canada's capital city during the May tulip festival. Witty and crisp writing. Neat Atlantic Canada connection with family origins. Great entertainment. Read this first, and then catch the follow up book - Icing on the Corpse.

Camilla MacPhee bursts onto the senses like a sarcastic gin and tonic. A tough lawyer with a very no-nonsense approach (and a deep disrespect for all things feline), Camilla finds herself in the very unhappy situation of being best friend to a murder suspect.It doesn't help that the victim was an out-and-out unlikeable fashion critic who seemed to thrive on blasting women in power for wearing pumps that didn't match. No one liked her, and someone didn't like her enough to kill her. Now Camilla has to use every bit of wit she has (and she has plenty) to solve a crime before her friend ends up in jail. She just has to juggle her friends cats, the world's worst assistant, and a detective determined to date her sister, and a potential romance of her own - oh my!Set in Ottawa during the tulip festival, this is a great book for anyone who likes a tough, albeit cranky, heroine with attitude. The mystery itself is engaging, and Camilla's life just sucks you right in. I for one, can't wait for "The Icing on the Corpse," which is the upcoming sequel.

Well-written and witty, SPEAK ILL OF THE DEAD is a delight! Its protagonist is Camilla MacPhee, a trained lawyer whose beloved died in an accident caused by a drunk driver. Camilla responded by becoming an advocate for victims of violent crime, running her tiny agency on a shoestring -- a task made more difficult since she's saddled with Alvin, the son of an old friend of her father's and the least productive office assistant since Bartleby the Scrivener.As if she needs any more problems, Camilla's best friend from childhood, Robin Findlay, is the chief suspect in the murder of a celebrity fashion writer. Other suspects abound, in theory, since the late unlamented had the personality of a pit viper but, alas, Robin is on the scene with blood on her hands. Camilla must clear her friend by pinpointing the actual killer, if for no other reason than to rid herself of responsibility for Robin's six cats. A venerable story line, it's true; there are no new plots under the sun. But there are fresh new characters like Camilla, her loving (if overbearing) family, and the inquisitive Mrs. Parnell across the hall, to name only a few.Cat fanatics be warned, though; Robin's are ordinary animals, absorbed in their private feline concerns; they do not solve the mystery. Camilla does that herself and, tagging along on her investigation, the reader gets to see a bit of the Canadian capital in tulip festival time and meet some interesting, amusing people.