Monday 6 August 2018

Book ~ "Every Crooked Nanny" (1992) Mary Kay Andrews (Kathy Hogan Trocheck)

From GoodreadsAfter ten years of cleaning up Atlanta's streets, former cop Callahan Garrity trades in her badge for a broom and starts a housekeeping business. She's on the job when her client announces that her pretty nineteen-year-old Mormon nanny has disappeared - along with jewelry, silver and some sensitive real-estate documents.

Soon Callahan and her crew of eccentric cleaners are involved in a job messier than any they've ever encountered. Illicit love triangles, crooked business deals, long-distance scams - it's going to require some industrial-strength sleuthing on Callahan's part to solve this one.

Callahan used to be a police officer for ten years but quit to open her own investigation agency.  That didn't work out so she bought House Mouse, a cleaning service that she runs with her mother, Edna.

Lilah, someone Callahan went to school with years ago, hires her cleaning service.  She then hires Callahan as a detective when she discovers that Kristee, her nanny, has disappeared along with some jewelry, silver and documents relating to her husband, Bo's real estate deal.  As Callahan starts digging, she discovers the real estate deal may not be as legal as it should be, Kristee may not be the innocent nanny everyone thought she was and anyone, including Lilah, Bo, Bo's business associates and even Kristee's lover, could be involved in Kristee's disappearance.

The writing style and storyline were just okay.  The editing could have been tighter as there were typos.  It is written in first person perspective in Callahan's voice.  I found there were a lot of characters to keep track of.  The end was came together quickly and was a bit unbelievable.  I don't know why the author had Callahan have a breast cancer scare ... there was enough going on in the book so it wasn't needed.  As a head's up, there is swearing and violence.

This is the first in the Callahan Garrity Mystery Series, originally written in 1992.  While I thought it was just okay, I liked it enough to want to read the next one in the series.

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