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CLUBBED TO DEATH
by Elaine Viets
Obsidian, May 2009
273 pages
$6.99
ISBN: 0451225252


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Helen has been accused of murdering her own ex-husband. Not that she hasn't thought about it on more than one occasion, having left a high-powered job and wealthy lifestyle in order to go on the run in a series of dead-end, low-pay, cash-under-the-table jobs to make sure she never has to pay Rob a dime of palimony. But it's terribly ironic that she is the suspect when Rob's current wife is a black widow with a string of suspiciously deceased husbands.

CLUBBED TO DEATH, eighth in Viets' Dead-End Job series, has Helen coming up slightly in the world. With her greedy ex-husband remarried, she can look for a regular job instead of whoever will hire her under the table. And she needs work, after all the money she's spent keeping her car running. With the help of her landlady, Margery, Helen becomes part of the Customer Care group at the Superior Club.

If Helen's on her way up in the world, the Superior Club is on its way down. Once full of the famous and discreet, it is now full of the dubiously rich and extremely rude. And when the yacht sails in, the membership goes up by one black widow and one ex-husband. Soon afterwards Rob goes missing, leaving only trails of blood at the scene where Helen gave him a well-deserved punch in the face. The fight was witnessed, so she becomes the prime suspect. Oddly, it's Rob's current wife who bails her out and restores her job, knowing that Helen won't be able to resist her request to find out what underhanded scheme Rob was up to this time.

Viets can always be counted on to provide a solidly entertaining read, and CLUBBED TO DEATH does not disappoint. The mystery isn't necessarily all that complex, but the characters are always fun – and the set up is surprisingly realistic for such a fluffy cozy. If you want to start the series with this book, enough of Helen's story is provided for the newest readers to keep up. On the other hand, long-term readers will be rewarded by seeing Helen moving forward in her life and her relationships.

Reviewed by Linnea Dodson, May 2009

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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