The Unraveling of Violeta Bell
A
Maddy Sprowls Mystery
C.
R. Corwin
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-501-1 (1590585011)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-501-6 (9781590585016)
Publication Date: April 2008
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis
(from
the publisher): Newspaper librarian Maddy Sprowls never gives story
ideas to the editors at The Hannawa Herald-Union. She prefers to stay
in the “morgue” and do her job, and hopes the
editors stay
in the newsroom and do theirs. Then one Saturday she sees four elderly
women get out of a taxicab at a garage sale. Those women must hire that
cabby every week, she figures, to drive them from garage sale to garage
sale while they search for treasure. And wouldn’t that make a
great feature story for the paper? Monday morning she runs straight to
the newsroom with her idea. Shortly after the story runs, one of the
four women is murdered - retired antique dealer Violeta Bell.
Maddy wants no part of the investigation. But before she knows it
she’s on another of her infamous snoopathons. And, good
gravy,
enjoying every minute of it. Was Violeta Bell murdered by one of the
other garage sale ladies? Former striptease artist Kay Hausenfelter
perhaps? Or real estate agent Gloria McPhee? Or eccentric
philanthropist Ariel Wilburger-Gowdy? Or was it Eddie French, the
scruffy cabby with a police record as long as his arm? And what about
Violeta’s claim that she was the rightful queen of Romania?
Any
truth to that?
Review:
C. R. Corwin's third mystery featuring Maddy "the Morgue Mama" Sprowls,
The Unraveling of
Violeta Bell, finds the newspaper librarian investigating
the murder of an elderly antiques dealer.
Every Saturday at 8 AM sharp, a cab picks up a group of four elderly
women who takes them on the rounds of garage sales in the area. These
"Queens of Never Dull" pose an interesting human interest story, or so
believes Maddy, who suggests such a story to her editors. The women
eagerly agree to an interview, and what a diverse group they are. One
is a wealthy widow who was once a strip-tease artist, another is a real
estate agent, a third is married to the owner of a pest control
company, and the last, Violeta Bell, the self-appointed leader of the
group, is the retired owner of Bellflower Antiques. But Violeta
actually believes she is a Queen, a member of the royal family of
Romania. Just days after a story of the group is published, Violeta is
found murdered, shot three times at close range. What threat did this
old woman pose that someone found it necessary to kill her?
The Unraveling of
Violeta Bell is an engaging, delightful mystery. Maddy, at
the tender age of 69, still thinks she is, and acts like, a teenager:
stubborn, opinionated, and sassy. When the ladies' cab driver is
arrested, Maddy's editor-in-chief asks her to investigate. He has a
circuitous family relationship with the driver but believes him to be
innocent. Maddy quickly learns that Violeta led something of an active
double life, the Queens of Never Dull were certainly not dull
themselves, and Violeta's antiques were far more modern than she
claimed. Though suspects abound, Maddy finally narrows down the list
and creates a shrewd trap to identify the culprit.
Witty, clever, humorous, and genuinely entertaining, The Unraveling of Violeta Bell
is a real treat for mystery lovers. It is highly recommended.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of The Unraveling of Violeta Bell and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
The Cross Kisses
Back
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), November 2003
ISBN-10: 1-59058-074-5 (1590580745)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-074-5 (9781590580745)
Dig
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), November 2005
ISBN-10: 1-59058-203-9 (1590582039)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-203-9 (9781590582039)
The Unraveling
of Violeta Bell
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), April 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59058-501-1 (1590585011)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-501-6 (9781590585016)
Omnimystery keywords for The Unraveling of Violeta Bell
...
Location(s) referenced: