When 28-year-old Agnes Blythe, the contented bifocals-wearing half of an academic power couple, is jilted by her professor boyfriend for the town Pilates instructor, her future is suddenly less than certain. So when her glamorous, eccentric Great Aunt Effie arrives in town and offers a job helping to salvage the condemned Stagecoach Inn, what does Agnes have to lose? But work at the inn has barely begun when the unlikely duo find the body of manipulative Kathleen Todd, with whom Agnes and Effie both have recently had words. Words strong enough to land them at the top of the suspect list.
The pair have clearly been framed, but no one else seems interested in finding the real murderer and Agnes and Effie's sleuthing expertise is not exactly slick. Nevertheless, they're soon investigating a suspect list with laundry dirtier than a middle school soccer team's and navigating threats, car chases, shotgun blasts, and awkward strolls down memory lane.
In Bad Housekeeping, the first novel in the Agnes & Effie cozy mystery series by Maia Chance, danger mounts, deadlines loom, ancient knob-and-tube wiring is explored, and the ladies learn a thing or two about the awful, wonderful mistake that is going back home. (Summary via Goodreads)
You know it's a good book when 41 pages into it you are already writing the review in your head. Bad Housekeeping takes no time if sucking you in. From the moment you open the book, you are best friends with Agnes and totally in love with great-aunt Effie.
Maia Chance writes in such a way that as your reading the story your imagination runs wild.....you are so engrossed in Agnes and what she is doing, you can picture it so clearly. And great-aunt Effie is that crazy relative that everyone has in their family....crazy but also so fun to hang around with.
Naneda is a town that anyone would want to live in, especially with the assortment of characters living there. Not to mention that it is where Agnes grew up and her father is the Mayor. So when Agnes is dumped by her smart, professor boyfriend, Roger she has no where else to go other than back to dad's house. And because she left the apartment that she lived with Roger so quickly, all she had were her old high school clothes still in the closet at her dads. You won't be able to hold the laughter in when you read the discriptions of her outfits.
Great-aunt Effie shows up in town right after the break-up with big news of her own. She has been left the Stagecoach Inn by a cousin. She is in town to salvage and renovate the Inn. She enlists the jelp of Agnes and cousin Chester but before they start any work, Kathleen Todd, a bigwig in town, is found murdered at the Inn. And because both Agnes and Effie had words with her the day before, they are top on the list of suspects.
Effie sets her sights on solving the murder and clearing their names. But as they begin their own investigation, they find themselves in compromising situations. And then when another person is found dead, they have to work even faster to solve the case so no one else ends up dead....especially Agnes and Effie.
I cannot wait for the next adventure of Agnes and Effie. I know it is going to be a hoot !!!
Review by Missi S.
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