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.
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OK enough to finish, but wasn’t a great read. Agnes hits all the cozy mystery main character boxes: over weight, failed relationship, no direction, coming home to lick wounds, escapes to big town returns to small town etc. Effie hit all the old woman wacky character boxes: old, doesn’t care what others think/runs over them, rude in the guise of being helpful, quirky habits and dress. And, of course, there’s the sexy guy from Agnes’ childhood. Everything was thrown in this book and none of this makes it a distinctive, enjoyable read. The characters weren’t really likeable and if the author was trying to make Agnes and Effie a bit comic, it was a miss.
I have already requested the second book in the series based on the author and cover. I’ll give it a go and see if I like it more.
SO GOOD! I laughed and cried, I even held my breath in anticipation. Agnes was my favorite character by far. She was relatable and likeable from page one where Aunt Effie was in my opinion snobby, full of herself and didn’t give a flying fig about anyone else’s feelings. She grew on me a bit but I’m still not a fan. Had part of the plot figured out although some of it was just so messed up that I’m still not sure I understand and the ex, well let’s just say LOSER and be done with him. Eager to read book 2 and I really hope it is as good as this. So glad I took a chance on a new author
This was another fun read from Maia Chance.
This is the first in a new series and I think the series will develop into a pretty decent one. The book started with the characters being a bit slapstick and one dimensional. While the humor was definitely present, I am glad that as the book progressed so did the depth of character development. The main character has a bit of a self-esteem issue, but has intelligence and humor making her the perfect sleuth to get the characters out of trouble with the law. The mystery part of the plot was quite interesting as the author did an excellent job of presenting multiple potential villains without making the plot muddy. All in all, I definitely liked the book but I definitely want to read the next book to decide on whether the series is a keeper or not.
This is the first book in the new Agnes and Effie Mystery series by Maia Chance. It was delightfully warm and witty and had a pretty good mystery to go with it. The series ‘stars’ are pudgy, twenty-eight-year-old Agnes Blythe and seventy-something, former super-model Great-Aunt Effie. Add in a former high school sweet heart and a girl-crazy cousin and you have quite a cast of characters!
Agnes is very insecure about her body image, mostly because of an incident in high school. She was never the svelte and supremely confident person her great-aunt Effie is and when someone posted a nasty sign about her weight on her locker at school, she skipped the last two weeks of high school. That insecurity stayed with her and even affected her choice of fiancé – who is a really stodgy, self-centered piece of work. So, when said fiancé dumps her, she flees to her father’s house. (Note: I picture Velma from Scooby-Doo.)
Great-Aunt Effie, who has just inherited a condemned old inn in their town, sweeps in and just engulfs Agnes. Effie is a former super-model, is very rich, and has had several husbands. She is a chain smoking force of nature!
The banter between the characters is funny as in:
“He was going to give us the little lady treatment,” Effie said.
“What?”
“You know, like John Wayne. Treating us like lobotomy patients because we haven’t got boy parts.”
The morning after Effie arrives in town and Agnes moves back to her dad’s house, they stumble upon the dead body of a nasty woman that both of them had a confrontation with the day before. They, of course, become the prime suspects and end up investigating the murder themselves. A few bodies and several close calls later, they have their murderer! However, getting there is filled with car chases, confrontations, people in strange liaisons, blackmail – you name it and it is there!
Then, there is Otis Hatch, Agnes’ high school crush. He’s still a first-class hunk and keeps showing up wherever Agnes happens to be. I think we’re going to see a full-fledged romance there and maybe see Agnes overcome some of her body image issues.
Of course, I’m thinking the ex-fiancé, Dr. Roger Hollins, will go forward with the series as well. Maybe just as a counterpoint to Otis. Not that there will be any competition between Roger and Otis – Roger will be more the comic relief.
So, we have a great set of characters set up for the following books in the series. I can’t wait to see what Agnes and Effie get into next!
“I requested and received this book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”