Title: Maid of Murder (An India Hayes Mystery)Author: Amanda Flower
Publisher: Five Star
Synopsis (from back cover): India Hayes is a lot of things. . . starving artist who pays the rent as a college librarian, daughter of liberal activists, sister of an emotional mathematician, tenant of a landlady who has kissed the Blarney Stone one too many times, and a bridesmaid six times over. But she's about to step into the most challenging role of her life: amateur sleuth.
Childhood friend and now knockout beauty, Olivia Blocken is back in town to wed her bodybuilder fiance with India a reluctant attendant. . . not just because the bridesmaid's dress is a hideous mess, but because she's betraying her brother. Mark still carries a torch for the bride who once broke his heart and sent his life into a tailspin.
When Olivia turns up dead in the Martin College fountain and the evidence points to Mark, India must unmask the real culprit while juggling a furious and grieving Mother of the Bride, an annoyingly beautiful Maid of Honor, a set of hippie-generation parents, the police detective who once dated her sister and is showing a marked liking for her, and a provost itching to fire someone, anyone -- maybe even a smart-mouthed librarian.
India's investigation leads her on a journey through childhood memories that she'd much rather have left in the schoolyard, but to avoid becoming the next victim, it is a path she must follow.
Maid of Murder is a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud mystery set in an amusing world of academia. Readers will fall in love with India Hayes' fierce loyalty and wit.
My thoughts: I thought this debut novel was a lot of fun. I love that the amateur sleuth is a librarian. I worked in a library in high school and would love to be a librarian. There is just something trustworthy and loyal about someone who loves books. Anyway - India's family, inspite of all their eccentricities, really care for each other and and India really goes all out to prove that Mark is innocent. But don't think just because it is a cozy mystery that you will figure it out quickly. It kept me guessing. I look forward to reading more India Hayes mysteries!
About the author: Author Amanda Flower, a native of Akron Ohio, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. Like her main character India Hayes, Amanda is an academic librarian for a small college near Cleveland. When she is not at the library or writing her next mystery, she is an avid traveler who has been to seventeen countries, forty-eight U.S. states, and counting. Maid of Murder is her debut novel and the first in a series featuring amateur sleuth India Hayes. Amanda is also currently seeking a publisher for her middle-grade children’s mystery, The Mystery of the First Andora. She lives and writes near Akron.
You can find Amanda at her website, Amanda Flower, or on Facebook.
You can find Amanda at her website, Amanda Flower, or on Facebook.
~I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review.~
Publisher/Publication Date: Five Star, June 16, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59414-864-4
282 pages
