Bookstore

AMATEUR SLEUTH/CLASSIC/
COZY/CRAFTS/ROMANTIC MYSTERY
A REAL BASKET CASE
The best friend of Claire Hanover, 46-year-old proprietor of a Colorado Springs gift basket business, arranges for a handsome young massage therapist to give Claire a massage. When he's shot and killed in her bedroom and police arrest her husband, Roger, for the crime, Claire must convince Roger she wasn't having an affair and, with advice from a PI friend, find the real killer before Roger loses his job and goes to trial. Claire confronts the victim's fiery ex-girlfriend, his drug-dealing cohorts, and the gym ladies he supplied with cocaine or seduced for money. She must extricate herself from under a drug dealer's bed while he seduces his girlfriend, from jail--charged with breaking and entering, from a drug boss's limousine while he berates her for "messin' in his business," and from her angry aerobics classmates when they discover she suspects them. She makes mistakes at every turn, but she perseveres. Will she find the real murderer before Roger loses his job and goes to trial? Can she convince her husband to come back to her? Or will the killer get to her first?
Read A Review:

Claire Hanover is feeling lonely. Her Colorado Springs gift basket business is enough to fulfill her. Her husband is working night and day and ignoring her. Her friend Ellen, who has been bitter since her divorce, gets her to join her exercise class. When their handsome aerobics instructor, Enrique, shows interest in Claire, Ellen urges her to have a fling. Claire agrees to a massage. What she didn’t realize was that it would in her bedroom! Just when the massage was about to start, Enrique is shot and Roger, Claire’s husband, is in the doorway with the gun.

At first Claire isn’t positive Roger is innocent, but soon realizes he’s being framed. The police are happy they’ve got their man, so she sets out to prove his innocence. She finds herself with many unsavory people in the course of her investigation, especially the drug dealers. Then there are the many gym ladies he supplied with cocaine or seduced for money. Can Claire sort out the suspects and find the killer before the killer finds her?

I really enjoyed this book. I can’t wait to read the next! Claire is such a fun character. The story kept my interest at every turn. It did have some situations where I found myself saying, no way would I do that. I felt a normal person would have called the police, but Claire persevered and won me over! I hope the author writes fast!

I highly recommend this book.

Dawn Dowdle


Claire Hanover, a Colorado Springs housewife who has started a gift-basket business, is feeling lonely and unloved by her work-obsessed husband. Her best friend, Ellen, divorced and bitter, urges her to attend an aerobics class. When the handsome instructor, Enrique, flirts with Claire, Ellen tells her to have an affair with him. Claire agrees only to a massage. After Enrique is shot and killed while giving Claire the massage, the police arrest her husband, Roger. Claire realizes that she has jeopardized her marriage and her husband, whom she still loves. She is sure that someone has framed him and sets out to prove it. As she investigates, she learns that there are many people who could have killed Enrique, ex-girlfriends and drug-dealing cohorts among them. Spying on drug dealers, confronting angry aerobics classmates who are now suspects, and screwing up gift-basket deliveries, not to mention a breaking-and-entering charge, complicate Claire’s life, but she carries on, determined to save her husband and marriage. This will appeal to Desperate Housewives fans and those who like cozies with a bit of spice.

Barbara Bibel, Booklist Review, February 1, 2007