Half-Price Homicide by Elaine Viets

A Dead End Job Mystery

This is the ninth story in this series and I have enjoyed every one.  

This time Helen is working at a high class consignment shoppe at the beck and call of some pretty snobby customers.  Rich women can buy anything they want with their pricey store charges, so they buy the clothes and purses from the stores and then resell them at the consignment shoppe at a fraction of the price just so they have spending money, because their husbands won't give them a dime for themselves.  The owner Vera has to make sure the customer who buys the items doesn't run in the same circles as the client who sold it.  It is a stressful job, but Vera loves it.  One of the husbands figures out the scheme and catches his wife in the act of selling her pony hair purse, and a huge argument is played out in front of many customers, Vera and Helen. The husband leaves the store as do most of the customers, but his wife doesn't, she is found dead in the dressing room.  Helen again finds herself on yet another suspect list.

Meanwhile, Helen's mother passes away and she must make the arrangements to get her mother home and her fiance Phil talks her into handling her legal woes when she returns home for the funeral, which is no easy task, as her ex-husband again shows up to make trouble but will find himself buried in problems of his own.

And again the tenants in 2C are nothing but trouble.

The plot is tight and moves right along, the regular characters are now like old friends, and the new ones are excellent.  This book has it all, murder, mayhem and mischief.  The humor factor is high but is blended seamlessly with drama.  Many loose ends seem to be tied up in the edition, I don't think this is the end of the series, but Viets may be taking Helen in a different direction.  I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next.

FTC Disclosure:  Received from a friend..