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World Hotels - Murder Unleashed: A Dead-End Job Mystery (Dead-End Job Mysteries)
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List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $12.99
Your Save: $ 6.96 ( 35% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: NAL Hardcover
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
Format: Bargain Price
Label: NAL Hardcover
Manufacturer: NAL Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: 2006-05-02
Publisher: NAL Hardcover
Studio: NAL Hardcover
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Editorial Reviews:
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With a résumé that includes attempted assault and alimony evasion, Helen Hawthorne has no choice but to take on a series of dead-end jobs to make ends meet. At the Pampered Pet Boutique, Helen hustles a selection of canine cuisine and couture that beats anything in her own fridge or closet. And when Helen goes to deliver a dog to a client, she finds the blonde trophy wife stretchedout naked by her pool, a pair of ten-inch grooming scissors sticking out of her chest. Later that same day, a valuable labradoodle puppy is kidnapped from the boutique.
All eyes turn to Helen as the main suspect, and with a hurricane headed straight for South Florida, Helen's got to find the killer and come clean, or else her new life will be gone with the wind.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Boring-not her best
Comment: I've read Elaine's other series which I liked,. but found this one disappointing. I heard this series was funny, it's not to me. Helen is a bore. Or maybe this is the South Florida pomposity coming out which is funny to them.
I note the front cover quote from Nancy Martin, who is published by the same house. Hardly objective! We readers are being taken for a ride by the publishers' authors endorsements.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Helen Goes to the Dogs
Comment: In this episode of the Dead End Jobs Series, Helen works in a high end dog specialty shop. The shop has two talented dog groomers.
It is amazing what people will do for their dogs. High end clothes, jewelry, leashes, and furniture for dogs are available in this store. They even have a pick up and delivery service for grooming. Early on Helen finds a dead body while delivering a freshly groomed pooch.
Helen shows her love for animals in this book. She does some of her best detective work in the whole series. With help from her boyfriend, Phil, her landylady Margery, and friend, Peggy, she solves many mysteries.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Murder Unleashed
Comment: Book arived in the condition stated and in the time period stated. I would buy from this company again.
Customer Rating:
Summary: quick read
Comment: Another quick read by Elaine Viets. You know, some of the mysteries take so long to complete, others, such as Elaine Viets series, do not. I would suggest waiting for the paperback, but sometimes you just can't wait to see what the heroine gets into next.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not Very Good
Comment: I really like Elaine Viets, but this book was pretty much a flop...that, despite the fact I'm a dog lover.
I realize that Helen is supposed to be on the run, thus keeping most of her persona a mystery, but so many books into the series, I still don't even have a picture of this character in my mind -- what she looks like, how old she is, etc. And I also really can't stomach the Phil relationship, which I feel moved way too fast, and now has the two characters madly in love after just a couple of months, coming up with lines such as Phil saying, "I can save you!" when he finds out Helen has been accused of carelessness. The whole relationship feels forced and phony.
I think the thing that bugged me most about this book was the horrid excuse for fact checking and realism. Helen puts a bag of dog food into the back seat of someone's Miata -- yet anyone with a pair of eyes knows that Miatas don't have back seats. We hear about how the Ft. Lauderdale pet boutique flooded in Hurricane Andrew -- Andrew was a dry storm with very little rain, and I barely had any water at my house in central Miami. A store in Ft. Lauderdale certainly wouldn't have flooded in that hurricane. And no pet boutique would be open when a hurricane is bearing down and all other businesses are closed. I found these little irritating things very annoying.
And the way Helen "caught" Willoughby's murderer had to be the stupidest wrap-up I've ever read in a cozy. I don't know if the author was going for humor, but she should be ashamed at how ridiculous it turned out.
I really hope the next installment is better.
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