After freeing herself of some useless clutter—namely a cheating fiancé—Manhattan financial analyst Charlotte Adams goes home to Woodbridge, New York, to start over as a professional organizer. But she’s learning that foul play can creep into even the most well-ordered life. Charlotte never would have guessed that Emmy Lou Rheinbeck had organizational issues. The dressed-for-success executive … executive has a house that could be featured in a magazine—or so Charlotte thinks until she gets upstairs, where the rooms are overflowing with pastel stuffed animals. Charlotte thinks the collection can be easily tamed, but can’t say the same about Emmy Lou’s neighbor. The disturbed young man and his best friend think nothing of pulling horrible pranks that have Emmy Lou on edge. Charlotte can’t resist helping out, but her efforts result in a bigger mess—one that leads to murder.
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Maffini delivers yet another fun mystery with a shocking twist ending that will leave you wide-eyed. I love the ragtag band of misfits cast of characters.
If you’re after a fast-paced cozy mystery series, I’m really enjoying this one!
Charlotte meets with her latest client, Emmy Lou, to review an organizing problem. What she initially finds is an apparently well-put-together professional business woman with a neat and attractive home, at least on the first floor. But when Emmy Lou takes her upstairs, her secret obsession is revealed, a collection of stuffed toys in all shapes and sizes that have totally overwhelmed the bedrooms, hallways and even staircase of this impeccable home. And when an incident occurs during this visit, Emmy Lou reveals her true broken self. Charlotte is determined to help this sad individual, but a murder on the property with Emmy Lou as the acclaimed murderer, could put a damper on her efforts. An enjoyable cozy, with plenty of suspects and danger to our heroine and her friends. I enjoyed Charlotte’s relationships with her friends, both human and animals. And is there a hint of maybe a closer relationship with Jack at the end? Looking forward to the next book in this series. Disclosure: I am voluntarily reviewing this book and all opinions are strictly my own.
The Cluttered Corpse is Book 2 in the Charlotte Adams Professional Organizer Mystery series by Mary Jane Maffini.
This is the first book I’ve read in the series and it can be read as a standalone story. There are definitely relationship issues that have carried over into the 2nd book and it might be helpful to read book 1 to understand that better.
Charlotte meets with a client who needs help organizing a “collection.” While doing that, a nasty prank is payed by a neighbor. When she returns to the clients’s home, she makes an unpleasant discovery.
What I liked: Charlotte being an organizer is interesting because it will bring her into contact with a lot of different people and situations. There are organizing tips at the beginning of each chapter. I like the supporting characters Sally, Lilith, Rose, Jack, and the dachshunds. The mystery kept me guessing. A few times I thought I had it figured out and I was close, but not quite right.
What I had an issue with is when the protagonist is willing to risk her life, the lives of her loves ones, and her business to help someone she barely knows. Especially when there is no evidence that the police aren’t doing their job. I struggle to suspend my disbelief in that situation. If that isn’t an issue for you, you will probably love this book.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the free copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review.
For a cozy, this book actually has quite a complicated mystery with a few surprises. A solid “thumbs up” despite Charlotte doing more than one really stupid thing in her enthusiasm to help her client outside the range of a professional organizer.
Both book 1 and 2 in this series (the only 2 I have read so far) feature characters with brain damage or mental disability since I don’t recall actually being told what the character in this book actually has. It’s unusual and makes me wonder if the author has someone in her life with the disability to feature it twice in a row. It fit in well in the first book and doesn’t really impact this story much other than to, perhaps, explain why one character doesn’t seem to be questioned. Again, as I mentioned in my review of the first book, we’re not privy to much (just a couple sentences here) the real cops are doing in terms of investigation.
I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
The Cluttered Corpse by Mary Jane Maffini is the second book in her Charlotte Adams Professional Organizer series. Charlotte Adams seems to have a bad case of “corpse finds.” She is working with a client who needs Charlotte to organize her hundreds of stuffed animals. Arriving at her client’s house for a meeting it is chaos. Charlotte finds her client in the street shouting that she “killed him.” When Charlotte walks into the house she discovers a dead body at the bottom of the staircase. Charlotte was sure that her client was innocent. I really like how Charlotte didn’t give up while trying to discover who the murderer was. She didn’t hesitate to ask questions. Even threats didn’t stop her. I really enjoyed this story and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
I received an ARC in exchange for a honest review.