Josie Marcus is a mystery shopper with motive to find the person who is framing her best friend’s husband for murder.  Alyce Bohannon lives in a suburb with quiet tree lined streets, serves on committees and takes care of her infant son when she is not running around with Josie finding the best and the worst in retail stores.  When Halley Hardwicke, Alyce’s neighbor and an up and coming artist is murdered everyone is shocked.  When Jake Alyce’s husband is accused of murder Josie may not be sure he is totally innocent, but she doesn’t think he hired a thug to kill Halley. 

As Josie mystery shops and asks questions she learns a lot about Jake that points the finger at him, but learns even more about Halley’s life and how the woman treated others as her career took off.  While the ending was a surprise, it certainly ended with a bang! 

Elaine Viets is a talented author who wowed this reader from page one.  She knows how to take ordinary people and make them into characters that readers will want on their side.  And how to create villains that hide their true colors right up until the end.  This reader did not suspect the true killer until after Josie was in a compromising situation that ended the story with a bang. 

The background information in this story was great!  For this reader it was interesting to find a tale set in the city of Saint Louis.  The references to the history and surroundings were interesting and unique and gave this story just enough realism to make this reader feel right at home with the characters. 

Elaine Viets is definitely an author to watch.  This is the third installment of the Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper series, and will definitely not be the last that this reader seeks out.  This author will definitely be on this reader’s auto buy list for the future.  Up next from this talented woman is Clubbed to Death from her Dead-End Job series, and this reader definitely plans to enjoy it in hardback in May of 2008.

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