This is the 2nd Elaine Viets book I've read and loved it more than the first one! Great characters, HILARIOUS happenings, good mystery! It hit the spot for a great weekend read!!!

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This is the second book in the series and I can't wait to read #3. Helen and her friends at the wonderful 50s Florida apt bldg are a hoot...the man-hater with the parrot on her shoulder, the invisible pot-smoker, the 6-toed cat name Thumbs, Cal the Canadian...the plot is almost secondary to the characters and the dialogue. However, the mystery is well-plotted with just enough twists. A fast fun read.

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The second in the dead end job mysteries and once again Helen has a dead end job where she finds herself deep into mystery and murder. I gave this book a solid B on my personal rating scale and although I do like Helen and will continue reading her books I still find her evading the law and working under the table to avoid paying allimony in Florida just feels a little far fetched.
Helen this time has a job at a bookstore. Her boss, a very ookie man named Page Turner (the humor is really not as bad as this ready made joke by the way) gets himself dead and Helen's friend Peggy gets framed for the murder. Of course Helen has to help out Peggy and between her and her landlady (the comic relief of the book) Margery they get Peggy out of a sticky situation. Over all this book was not bad and I will continue reading the series.

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First of all I love the name of the book store owner - Page Turner. Isn't that great? We learn a bit more about Peggy, one of the other residents, at the Coronado so the characters are being fleshed out a bit more. Can't wait to find out more about Margery, the owner of the Coronado. THAT should be an interesting tale.

Helen is sort of an unlikely heroine. She is unsure of herself in her new life. Trying to keep a low profile since she is "on the lam", she takes all these dead end jobs, working under the table. Florida is a perfect setting for this series. In this book she needs to track down a killer before Peggy, unjustly accused, goes to prison for life - or worse.

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I love the writings of Elaine Viets. Her books are crafty, witty, and the plots are twisting and elusive and keep you guessing till the end. I especially like the conversations and smart remarks she has in her head when she answers someone but never speaks these thoughts out loud. Once I pick her books up I can't put them down till I'm done with the book. Not a bad one in the bunch.

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I'm really enjoying this series about Helen Hawthorne and her dead-end jobs. The second in the series, this book is set in a bookstore and stars an outstanding cast of characters, including the rich jerk boss (Page Turner, after whom the store is named), the regular client who reads all day long in the same chair each day, the hopeful self-publishers looking to score a reading, and of course the unforgettable Madame Muffy--a psychic who dresses in khaki.

Though Helen must endure the indignities of a low-paid job, she's also in a unique spot where she can help her friend and fellow Coronado resident, Peggy, after she's accused of murder. She's not a trained professional, so she fumbles the case on a few notable occasions, but just like Columbo, she always gets her man--or woman!

A particularly funny book for anyone who's self-published, though I think the times are changing enough that certain bookstores are less cruel to those of us who do! Highly recommended.

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Love it!

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2nd in series

I enjoyed this second installment better than the first. Helen is still living at her apartments when she wakes up one night to mounds of a termite invasion. Forced to flee her apartment for 3 days, the residents return to find Helens boss Page Turner, dead in her neighbors bed with a knife in his back. All fingers point to Peggy as the killer, and she is promptly arrested and set for a trial.

Helen knows in her heart Peggy is innocent, so she decides to do some sleuthing of her own. During the process, the bookstore she works at turns to a shambles and all the empoyees' jobs are at stake.

Even though this book is a little long for my tastes, it was well fleshed out. I was able to guess the killer early on, but unable to guess the means and motive. I do plan on continuing the series, in hopes Helen will meet at least one decent guy along the way. It will be interesting to read about all her wacked out jobs and the crazys she encounters.

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