Body Movers [Mass Market Paperback]

Stephanie Bond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2007

So Carlotta Wren's life hasn't turned out as she'd planned. She didn't plan for her parents to skip bail for a white-collar crime, leaving her to raise her brother. She didn't plan on having the silver spoon ripped from her mouth and forgoing college to work retail. She didn't plan on her blue-blood fiancé dumping her. And she didn't plan on still being single ten years later, working at Neiman Marcus, with no idea where her fugitive parents are. But she's coping. Until—

—her lovable brother is arrested, and the hunky cop decides to reopen her parents' case.

—her brother becomes a body mover for the morgue, and his sexy boss gets Carlotta involved.

—her former fiancé's wife (a good customer) is murdered, fingering Carlotta.

With three men in her life, Carlotta has added motivation to help bag a murderer to keep her own well-dressed body from being next on the list!

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Carlotta Wren's pampered life as the daughter of wealthy, doting parents ends abruptly when said parents commit a white-collar crime and leave the country to avoid prosecution. Carlotta is left with Wesley, her bright but trouble-prone brother. Working as a salesclerk in Atlanta's Neiman Marcus store, Carlotta endures the catty comments of former "friends" such as Angela Ashford, the woman who married Carlotta's fiance when he broke up with her after the scandal with her parents. Now Wesley has become a gambling addict. When Carlotta makes him get a job, she never dreamed that Wesley would become a body mover--someone who removes corpses from nursing homes, hospitals, and crime scenes--and that one of his first assignments would be to pick up a very dead Angela Ashford. Detective Jack Terry, who still hasn't given up on solving Carlotta and Wesley's parents' case, is convinced that Carlotta killed Angela, and he finds his attraction to her deeply annoying. A popular romantic suspense author, Bond has successfully switched to the crime genre, bringing along her trademark humor and panache. Watch for future titles in the Body Movers series. Shelley Mosley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

". . . a true catch-you-by-surprise plot twist that gives the story a good yank in the right direction." -- Publishers Weekly on Party Crashers

"There should be a notice on her books: For a really GOOD time, read Stephanie Bond!" -- America Online Romance Fiction Forum

"This is the best book I've ever read!" -- Stephanie's mom --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Mira (July 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778324826
• ISBN-13: 978-0778324829
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #619,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephanie Bond was several years into a corporate computer programming career when an instructor in her night school MBA program remarked that she had a flair for writing and encouraged her to submit one of her projects to academic journals. "But," Stephanie says, "all I could think was 'I wonder if I could write a romance novel?'" Bond grew up on a farm in eastern Kentucky where the entertainment choices were few. Luckily, she had a beloved aunt who shared her passion for reading. "When she visited once a year, she brought boxes and boxes of books by Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney and lush historicals--I was in heaven! I think I learned most of what I know about world history from historical romance novels. So suddenly thinking about writing in the genre of the books I loved so much was very exciting." After writing every spare moment for two years, Stephanie sold her first romantic comedy manuscript, IRRESISTIBLE? to Harlequin books. Two years later, she walked away from her corporate career to write commercial fiction full time. To date, she's published over 60 romance and mystery projects with various New York publishers, and is most well-known for her BODY MOVERS humorous mystery series. Stephanie lives in midtown Atlanta and is probably working on a new story at the very moment.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a fun story...., September 10, 2006

By 

Debra English "reading queen" (Ohio,USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Body Movers (Paperback)

The title of this book is what drew me to it originally and I am so glad that it did. This was such a fun and entertaining story with a great criminal case thrown in. I am usually good at guessing the killer in a story but this one came out of nowhere and I was very surprised.

I am so excited to see that there is going to be another in what I hope will become a series with these delightful characters.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not for me-- heroine loves being a doormat, April 13, 2011

By 

Wallaby ")" (Flint Hills) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Body Movers (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one aggravating book. Carlotta is 1) abandoned by her bail-skipping criminal parents 2) used and abused by her worthless brother, who she raised from age 9 with no help 3) Simperingly helpless to the rich people who all dumped her, including her ex-fiance who forgot her as soon as she hit hard times.
When Carlotta continued to suck-up to all the above, especially her gambling brother who won't even get a job, any job, (and his knee-breaker loan sharks) I was done. Only made it through the first third of this episode of "Doormats R Us" until I skipped to the last 20 pages and returned to library.
Life is way too short to read about women this ineffectual.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars turned out to be a great read!, September 29, 2007

By 

S. smith (Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Body Movers (Mass Market Paperback)

I almsot marked this a 4 because I was so mad at the first maybe 80 pages or so (couldn't stand her brother and her continuing to put her life on hold for the loser and also didn't like her being treated like lowlife by a former friend) but I'm glad I kept at this one because the brother though continually in one mess after another seems to be trying here and there and there was always something going on to keep the story moving. I think Bond usually writes romance (or that's what I've seen in the Blaze line but she's a new author for me and I've recently gotten several of her other books) but this really isn't a romance though there are sexual situations/innuendos here and there but not actual 'sex'. there are 3 men 'interested' in the the main character and one I don't think is worth the time of day though the other 2 I'd have a bit of trouble picking between...and the brother has the hots for his parole officer. Oh and this 'ends' with the current 'storyline' but also ends wtih the pickup/tension for the next book (andI've heard the 2ndbook ends the same way with something happening we have to wait a year for the sequel)..I don't particularly like that and since there are supposedly several of these to be done I hope she puts out at least 2 per year or I'll be reading these when I'm 50! overall a nice story once you get past the first few chapters and just relax and go with it!