Beware False Profits
A Ministry is Murder Mystery with Aggie Sloan-Wilcox
Emilie Richards
Berkley Prime Crime (Mass market paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-425-21868-6 (0425218686)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-21868-6 (9780425218686)
Publication Date: November 2007
List Price: $6.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): There's no rest for the weary Aggie Sloan-Wilcox and
her minister husband, who were praying for a relaxing weekend until a
member of their flock went missing.
Joe Wagner, president of Emerald Springs's food bank, disappears, and
Aggie discovers his secret life-as a female impersonator. Meanwhile,
the murder of the mayor's wife at the annual food bank fundraiser puts
Joe on top of the suspect list. If Aggie doesn't get to the bottom of
things fast, she'll be leading a choir singing the blues.
Review: Emilie Richards' third amusing mystery in the Ministry is Murder series, Beware False Profits,
has amateur sleuth Aggie Sloan-Wilcox taking a break from the hard work
of real life to look into the circumstances surrounding the murder of
the mayor's wife.
Aggie and her minister husband Ed have been helping to organize a
magnificent May Day celebration at the local fair grounds. The
beneficiary of the festivities is a charitable organization, Helping
Hands, which supplies food to those in need. Before the event, Joe
Wagner, the director of Helping Hands, leaves Ohio for his monthly trip
to New York, supposedly to attend a meeting of the national committee.
Aggie and Ed, having agreed they need a rest from the hubbub of the
final planning of the celebration, decide to spend a weekend in New
York. There, purely by accident, they find Joe working in the Pussycat
Club as a female impersonator – his escape from a not too perfect
marriage and his mission to discover the truth about himself and his
life in Ohio. Aggie and Joe agree to keep Joe’s secret. Back
home, the May Day celebration begins without Joe as the fortune teller;
Aggie’s mother fills in for him. She predicts that Hazel, Mayor
Brown’s wife, would have a long and prosperous life. Soon
thereafter, Hazel drops dead at the fair grounds. Aggie immediately
becomes involved, much to the dismay of Ed and Detective Roussos, after
she finds out that Hazel had been murdered. When Detective Roussos
asked her why she feels she must help in solving a police crime, she
tells him she is not investigating the murder, she’s just helping
to prove that Mayor Brown didn’t commit the murder. She thinks
that surely he could understand the difference.
Emilie Richards has created a truly delightful and in many ways
original character in Aggie Sloan-Wilcox. Add in scandal, deception,
and murder (to name but three) in a small "homey" town in mid-America
and the result is the perfect combination for a humorous mystery. Beware False Profits will certainly be praised (sorry, couldn't resist) by all.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Beware False Profits and to Book Trends for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Blessed Is the Busybody
Berkley (Mass market paperback), December 2005
ISBN-10: 0-425-20724-2 (0425207242)
Let There Be Suspects
Berkley (Mass market paperback), December 2006
ISBN-10: 0-425-21307-2 (0425213072)
Beware False Profits
Berkley (Mass market paperback), November 2007
ISBN-10: 0-425-21868-6 (0425218686)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-21868-6 (9780425218686)
Omnimystery keywords for Beware False Profits ...
Location(s) referenced: Ohio, New York City.