Professional organizer Maggie McDonald has a knack for cleaning up other people’s messes. So when the fiancée of her latest client turns up dead, it’s up to her to sort through the untidy list of suspects and identify the real killer.Maggie McDonald is hoping to raise the profile of her new Orchard View organizing business via her first high-profile client. Professor Lincoln Sinclair may be up … Sinclair may be up for a Nobel Prize, but he’s hopeless when it comes to organizing anything other than his thoughts. For an academic, he’s also amassed more than his share of enemies. When Sinclair’s fiancée is found dead on the floor of his home laboratory—electrocuted in a puddle of water—Maggie takes on the added task of finding the woman’s murderer. To do so, she’ll have to outmaneuver the suspicious, obnoxious police investigator she’s nicknamed “Detective Awful” before a shadowy figure can check off the first item on their personal to-do list—Kill Maggie McDonald.
“Fans of Feliz’s first book as well as newcomers to the series won’t be disappointed…Moves forward quickly with freshness, a few surprises and a couple of real scares.” —Kirkus Reviews on Scheduled to Death
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Scheduled to Death is the 2nd book in the Maggie McDonald Mystery series written by Mary Feliz. As most of you know (if you regularly follow my reviews), I tend to read full book series in order. I somehow read book four and five of this series, then went back to the beginning, so today’s review is focused on the early part of the series… but soon I’ll be ready for the latest book which releases in mid-2020. I’m a fan of this series, especially with the tips and advice from the author at the beginning of each chapter.
Maggie is a professional organizer. She’s working for a professor who’s engaged to be married and putting up his house for sale, as he’s moving into his fiancee’s place. The land under the house seems to have been deeded to a neighbor upon his parents’ death, should he ever try to sell it. The lady runs a garden and helps people in their town. Boots, that’s the neighbor, doesn’t want him to sell the house, or claims he can’t… there’s a few things going on there. Anyway… Maggie arrives to find the professor’s fiancee dead! The professor is immediately arrested, and it seems like he’ll lose the property to the neighbor. Who really did it?
What fun! I did enjoy this book, but I liked the debut much better. This one has great core characters and really takes the relationships to the next level; however, I wasn’t too fond of the newcomers who were strictly part of the murder mystery. Boots was a bit rude, the girls she watched over were also difficult, and the temporary detective was the biggest arse I’ve ever seen. That said, the mystery was intriguing, but it kinda went astray a bit in this one. It had two different tentacles and I thought it could’ve come together a little bit tighter. It was good, just not as clever as the first or the later ones I’ve read.
I liked getting to know Maggie’s husband more in this book, as in the first one, he was away in India. I’ve never seen someone have so many car accidents in such a short time tho! I’ll definitely keep reading them. Four down, two to go. Feliz has a great writing style, and it easily draws you in. I keep thinking I’ll read a few chapters each night and put it down, but I find myself wanting to finish as much as possible in one sitting. That’s a good sign. So… give this series a chance, but read it from the beginning. Always better that way. Bring on some more, Ms. Feliz – and thank you for the ones you’ve already shared.
Scheduled to Death was even better than Address to Die For which I loved. I am thrilled to have discovered Mary Feliz and the Maggie McDonald Mystery series. It is refreshing to find a series with so many strong and wonderful characters. In a fairly unusual twist for a cozy level mystery, the murder victim is a person who was loved and who we can admired. We do not get to know Sarah before she is killed, so the great balance of humor, action and mystery helped keep the sadness mostly in the background. The sorrow does not take away from the story; as a matter of fact, the touches of pain that we do see and feel add to our connection to the characters. I can’t wait for the next book.
Maggie and her family have settle well into their new home and she is about ready to restart her business. She and Tess are working together on an open house for a friend when they discover the body of a friend. Jason has been injured so a retire detective is on the case and “Detective Awful” is a nightmare of sloppiness and and jerkiness. Naturally Maggie feels to investigate and the case becomes both complex and dangerous.
I requested and read and advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley. The review is completely voluntary. I review all books that I love.
Good book! Maggie and Tess have been helping a professor get his house ready to sell before he gets married. They discover the body of his fiancee, Sarah, in the house and it appears she was electrocuted. A temporary detective is filling in for Jason after he was injured and the detective seems to be determined that the professor is the suspect. As accidents and weird incidents continue to happen, Maggie suspects someone is trying to frame the professor as well as kill him. Interesting storyline and a great cast of characters. I am really looking forward to reading more of this series!!
This is a great series.
Mary is a wonderful author and I always enjoy her characters.
Book two in the Maggie McDonald Mystery series. Well the family finally got moved in after all of the crazy stuff in book one and now Maggie is trying to get her organizing business off the ground. Her first client is important enough to get the word around if she does a good job and things are going smooth until a dead body is found at the house she is cleaning out and her employer is the main suspect even getting arrested. The evolution of the story had me hooked wondering what would happy next and the characters are really easy to relate to by this point. The addition of the horrible police officer really adds a new layer to the story that inspires Maggie to find out what really happened. The story is very well written and if you enjoy cozy mysteries novels then this is the series for you. I really enjoyed reading it so it gets 4/5 stars.
I liked the book but felt some questions weren’t answered so while it kind of had an ending, it also didn’t completely solve the mystery.
I enjoy this series and this one was a good one! Love the organizing tips too.
A very good mystery. Kept you engaged in the story. I love mysteries with animals in the story line. Can’t wait to read the next book!