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Clubbed to Death
A Dead-end Job Mystery, # 7

by Elaine Viets



      Helen Hawthorne is on the run. She isn't using her real last name. When she divorced Rob in St Louis, after catching him in bed with a neighbor, a judge awarded him half of Helen's income for the rest of his life. Rather than pay the creep, Helen quit her high-paying job and ran. She assumed the name of Helen Hawthorne and kept on moving, working low-paying dead-end jobs to keep herself alive.

Now, she's in Florida, living in Fort Lauderdale and working in Golden Palms. She has a car she’s named the Toad. Thanks to the Toad, she is in hock for car repairs. Thanks to her new job at Superior Club, the Golden Palms country club, she has credit card debt up to her eyeballs. She can no longer afford to move around.

All was well until Rob showed up at the club along with his new, Marcella. They arrived on Marcella's yacht, which was almost as big as a cruise ship. Marcella was also known as the Black Widow. All her husbands were dead except Rob.

Helen managed to avoid Rob until the night of Marcella's big party. Helen thought she'd succeeded in staying out of his sight until he surprised her in the parking lot. They argue and Helen punches him in the mouth. Then Rob turns up missing. When the police find his torn and bloody T-shirt, their suspicions fall on Helen.

Helen is arrested for Rob's murder, even though his body hasn't been found. When Marcella gets her set free, Helen is dumb-founded. What does the Black Widow want? Where is Rob's body?

Though this is a mystery, you have to laugh as Helen bumbles her way through proving her innocence. The language is clean, the one sex scene is left to the imagination. I enjoyed Clubbed to Death. You, dear readers, will too.

Other Reviews in this series


Just Murdered,
No 4   [review]

Murder Unleashed,
No. 5   [review]
Murder with Reservations,
No. 6   [review]
Clubbed to Death,
No 7   [review]
Pumped for Murder,
No 10   [review 1] [review 2]

The Book

Obsidian / NAL
May 6, 2008
Hardcover
0451223942 / 978-0451223944
Mystery
More at Amazon.com
NOTE: Contains Violence

The Reviewer

Jo Rogers
Reviewed 2008
© 2008 MyShelf.com