|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Helen Hawthorne, living under the radar to avoid her ex-husband, has taken another of her dead-end jobs -- one that may be minimum wage, or close to it, but one that pays her in cash. This time, she is a clerk at a fancy dog boutique, where the star groomer, diva Jonathon, wears glittery spandex disco outfits and platform shoes, and Todd, the other groomer, well-built and younger, may be blackmailing some of the wealthy clients. Tammy Grimsby is having a birthday party for her pet Yorkshire terrier with 20 other dogs as guests. Prince needs a grooming but Tammy has purchased an outfit for him that needs fitting, so she takes him to the tailor first. She has other errands to run, so she asks that Prince be picked up at noon for his grooming. Helen, driving the shop's pink vintage Cadillac (the pupmobile) does so. There is no answer to the bell, but the house is unlocked so she enters and finds Tammy nude lying on a lounger by the pool. Her husband appears wearing an unsuitably small speedo, and both appear to come on to Helen. She leaves and returns to the salon with the dog. Another customer comes to pick up his dog, the Labradoodle Barkley, who is the spokesdog for a major department store. Fifteen minutes later, the wife of the man who picked up the dog, comes in. When Helen admits she released the dog to her husband, the woman pitches a fit. They are separated and the dog has been kidnapped. As if Helen isn't having a bad enough day, she now has to drive the pink pupmobile back to the Grimsby house and return Prince. When she does so, she finds that Tammy has been stabbed with a pair of ten-inch dog grooming shears. How Helen manages to keep out of the eye of the police, figure out who killed Tammy and find Barkley make for an entertaining, fast-paced book with witty remarks and characters just on the edge of being a bit over the top. This is the fifth in the Dead-End job series. In her next job, Helen will work as a char in an hotel. Each book in this series stands alone. This is a really fun series.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, April 2006
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
