Customer Reviews

Accessory to Murder (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper, Book 3)

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In this latest Josie Marcus installment, Elaine Viets takes on the difficult topics of racism and class snobbery with interesting results.

Mystery shopper, Joise Marcus, has gotten herself involved in a few murder investigations in the past, but all her previous investigations will pale in importance when stacked against this latest case -- that of proving that her best friend, Alyce's husband, Jake, innocent of the murder of the hot young designer of Italian scarves, Halley HHardwicke. The police think that Jake and Halley were having an affair and that Jake murdered Halley in order to keep the affair secret from Alyce. Alyce believes that her husband is innocent of both charges. But Josie is not so sure that Jake wasn't having an affair with Halley. After al he has cheated on Alyce in the past. But for Alyce's sake, Josie will keep her doubts to herself and poke at every dark corner in the rich suburban neighbourhood Alyce's resides in, in order to discover who hated Halley enough to kill her...

I enjoy Elaine Viets' Josie Marcus novels because they are well written, interesting and fast reads. This particular installment, for instance, brings the reader face to face, even if it is for a brief moment, with the prejudice and assumptions that white, upper middle class people have towards blacks and those not of their social class. It makes for a little uncomfortable reading but is welcome all the same, and I liked the manner in which the author layered these issues into the novel at hand. So that while the investigative subplot seemed all over the place at times, watching how Joise and Alyce carried out their investigations, Josie's observations of what was going on around her, and
Josie's interactions with her family, made for some truly absorbing reading. A good read.

Josie Marcus is a single mother who pays a nominal rent by living in her mother's house. She has known much heartache and tragedy but she is also best friends to Alyce who lives in an affluent gated community filled with mansions and villas while she lives in a blue collar neighborhood. She doesn't like Alyce's husband Jake who cheated on his wife but tolerates him out of her friendship for his spouse.

When Alyce's neighbor is murdered in what looks like a carjacking, a black male is arrested while running through the mall. The police are forced to let him go when evidence proves him innocent; then the police turn their eyes on Jake as a suspect. Circumstantial evidence points to him having an affair with Halley Hardwicke and witnesses saw them arguing before her death. Alyce knows that Jake is innocent of murder and asks Josie to help. She starts nosing around and almost gets killed by a cold blooded killer who has gotten away with murder twice.

There are two heroes in this book: Alyce for sticking by her man even though he doesn't deserve it or her and Josie who goes the extra mile to help her friend. There are some very funny scenes as Josie is mystery shopping at greasy fast food places and is inundated with hundreds of packages she never ordered by someone who wants her busy returning packages and magazine subscriptions. Elaine Viets has written a well thought out who done it starring a sleuth who is totally believable and a bit quirky. Harriet Klausner

This installment of Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper, was the best so far. One of Alyce's neighbors is murdered and Alyce's husband Jake is charged with the murder.

This book explores true human nature. We see what Alyce's neighbors do when she is down. Some, figuratively, kick her and rub salt in her wounds. Others are still kind.

Josie has a date with someone her Mom wants her to go out with as well as someone else, who is new.

I liked this book. It was excellently written. You will like it also.

I must admit to having only a vague knowledge of what a "mystery shopper" does. That is no longer the case, and I am the happier for my new-found knowledge. Elaine Viets' new book is the third entry in this series, following her earlier and popular Dead End Job mystery series. Ms. Viets comes by her knowledge of this occupation honestly: Her mother held that job in the `60's, and she describes it as being part actress, part undercover cop.

As the job title implies, Josie Marcus, 31, single and the mother of a nine-year-old girl, is paid to visit the stores run by those who hire her employer to shop and report on conditions and rate the employees as well as the product in those stores. She is often accompanied by her best friend, Alyce, calling her "her best disguise. Nobody sees two housewives." An occupational hazard is chugging Maalox straight from the bottle when she has to visit and report on the greasy-spoon fast food chains in the area. Having just visited a St. Louis mall store featuring magnificent and highly-priced Italian silk scarves designed by Halley Hardwicke, one of Alyce's neighbors, who had soared to prominence after being "merely" a suburban housewife, her design so unique that the gorgeous shade she uses is described as "Halley blue" by one and all, Halley is murdered, apparently in an attempted carjacking.

The police suspect Alyce's husband, Jake, and Josie, with Alyce's help, tries to find clues to the real killer, convinced that Jake is innocent - of murder, at any rate - they do suspect that he might have had an intimate relationship with unhappily-married Halley. Their suspicions focus on the dead woman's husband, two men who had had close relationships with her in the past, and assorted "friends" and neighbors. The word "friends" is in quote marks for a reason - the book turns heavily on the true meaning of that word. Alyce becomes a pariah among those she thought she counted in that category. Josie, however, is the real thing. She is also great fun. "Accessory to Murder" is a delightful read, and I will look forward to the next entry in the series.

I think this book was great. I love this series and her other series with Helen. I especially loved the article at the end about mystery shopping. Believe it or not, very helpful. The only complaint I have is Alyce is not an especially likeable character and it's hard to picture her and Josie really friendly.

Excellent. This is the first I've read involving a Mystery Shopper, I was fascinated.

This mystery on the light side isn't pure fluff. There's substance here. Crafted with a sure comic hand, this book is enlivened with dimensional characters, and touches lightly but firmly on serious issues including racism, snobbery, rabid ambition and greed. In case anybody forgot, we can find real life, real art, real talent, real money - and real intrigue - in America's heartland, not just on the right or left coasts.

Protagonist Josie is a single mom who works as a mystery shopper to make ends meet in her hometown of St. Louis. Josie's assignments span American socioeconomic strata: from high-end boutiques in ritzy malls to grubby discount warehouse stores selling shoddy goods, from nice chain restaurants to horrid grease-burger joints. Many of them make for comic scenes.

"Accessory to Murder" involves Josie in her best friend Alyce's family crisis, and we come to know Alyce as more than a wealthy suburban wife and mother who cooks artfully in her big dream kitchen. When Alyce's unlikable husband is charged with the murder of a neighbor, Alyce and Josie hunt for evidence to clear him. It's not looking good for the home team: Alyce's hubby's been caught on tape meeting the attractive victim at a local hotel though he vehemently denies it involved sex. And before we find out whodunit, our heroines unearth even more dirt on the guy.

Someone wants Josie off the case: her credit card info is stolen and her home literally inundated with merchandise Josie didn't order. How better to distract a 21st Century sleuth than to tie her down at home clearing up the damage from identity theft?

That's not the only clever twist in the book. I usually don't keep my contemporary cozy paperback books after reading them but this one's going onto the shelf. I may reread it some day. It was that good.

Josie Marcus is a mystery shopper with motive to find the person who is framing her best friend's husband for murder. Alyce Bohannon lives in a suburb with quiet tree lined streets, serves on committees and takes care of her infant son when she is not running around with Josie finding the best and the worst in retail stores. When Halley Hardwicke, Alyce's neighbor and an up and coming artist is murdered everyone is shocked. When Jake Alyce's husband is accused of murder Josie may not be sure he is totally innocent, but she doesn't think he hired a thug to kill Halley.

As Josie mystery shops and asks questions she learns a lot about Jake that points the finger at him, but learns even more about Halley's life and how the woman treated others as her career took off. While the ending was a surprise, it certainly ended with a bang!

Elaine Viets is a talented author who wowed this reader from page one. She knows how to take ordinary people and make them into characters that readers will want on their side. And how to create villains that hide their true colors right up until the end. This reader did not suspect the true killer until after Josie was in a compromising situation that ended the story with a bang.

The background information in this story was great! For this reader it was interesting to find a tale set in the city of Saint Louis. The references to the history and surroundings were interesting and unique and gave this story just enough realism to make this reader feel right at home with the characters.

Elaine Viets is definitely an author to watch. This is the third installment of the Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper series, and will definitely not be the last that this reader seeks out. This author will definitely be on this reader's auto buy list for the future. Up next from this talented woman is Clubbed to Death from her Dead-End Job series, and this reader definitely plans to enjoy it in hardback in May of 2008.

Review Courtesy of LoveRomancesandmore

Jose Marcus is a mystery shopper. She checks stores, and the staff, out to see how clean the store is and how courteous the staff is. It's a hard job even though it sounds so glamorous!

In this book in the series, Jake, the husband of Josie's best friend, Alyce, is arrested for the murder of an increasingly famous scarf designer.

While Jose has no fondness for Jake, thinking that he is a terrible husband to Alyce, for the sake of her friend, Jose starts investigating.

One of the striking events in this book is when Alyce's rich neighbors snub her. She has been branded the wife of a murderer.

Once again, Elaine Viets has written a memorable, serious but fun, adventure. Jose is a wonderful character--the kind of person I'd like to have on my side.

Actually, Elaine Viets has written not only this series but also her "Dead-End Job" series in which Ms. Viets does the research by taking the job--whether it be as a hotel maid, a telemarketer, or a sales clerk.

You can't miss if the author is Elaine Viets. --Karen Dyer, Dublin, CA

Elaine Viets used to be one of my favorite authors when she was writing her Fracesca Vierling series. I don't know what's happened, but her two current series do not seem like they're being written by the same author.

This book was just silly. The dialogue is very juvenile, as if it was written by a 12-year-old. Josie and Alyce both come across like a couple of twits. It just wasn't an enjoyable read.

With the Dead-End Job series already a lost cause, I hope this series, which was much better, isn't on the same path.