Clubbed to Death: A Dead-End Job Mystery [Hardcover]

Elaine Viets (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dead-End Job Mystery | Publication Date: May 6, 2008

The national bestselling author who turns “minimum wage into maximum hilarity” (Nancy Martin, author of Murder Melts in Your Mouth) reveals the lifestyles of the rich and murdered…

Helen Hawthorne’s latest dead-end job is in a country club’s complaint department, dealing with the gripes of the rich and spoiled. Then Rob, her deadbeat ex-husband, sails back into her life aboard the yacht of his new lady, Marcella—known as the Black Widow for her string of dead spouses. The next day Rob’s reported missing. If the Black Widow has such a murderous reputation, then why is Helen led from the club in handcuffs?

When Marcella helps Helen get released, the two form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened. Helen’s barely begun digging when a club patron is discovered beaten to death with a golf club —his membership permanently expired. Someone got more than a little teed off and it’s up to Helen to get to the truth—without getting clubbed herself…

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Viets's sprightly seventh Dead-End Job mystery (after 2007's Murder with Reservations), intrepid Helen Hawthorne, now a customer care clerk at the snobbish Superior Club in Golden Palms, Fla., is dismayed to run into her money-hungry ex, Rob, in the club parking lot. When Rob, who's now married to a wealthy club member known as the Black Widow because her last five husbands have died mysteriously, tells Helen he fears for his life, the unsympathetic Helen hits him. Fellow club employees witness their fight, and one of them, Brenda, almost succeeds in getting Helen fired. Later, the authorities view Helen as a prime suspect after Rob disappears, a possible murder victim. When someone beats Brenda and a philandering plastic surgeon to death with Brenda's seven iron, Helen has a lot more to worry about. The romantic ending will leave fans eager for the next installment in this superior cozy series. Author tour. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Clever...[The] real satisfaction is in observing the club members at their worst."
-New York Times Book Review

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: NAL Hardcover; 1 edition (May 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451223942
• ISBN-13: 978-0451223944
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,198,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write my novels with the help of Harry, a striped cat who sleeps by my computer and lashes the keyboard with his tail. He whips me into a writing frenzy.
Harry collaborates on two series, the Dead-end Job mysteries and the Josie Marcus Mystery Shopper series. He's doing a good job -- I just signed a contract with NAL/Signet for two more books in each series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fun Dead End Job mystery, May 6, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clubbed to Death: A Dead-End Job Mystery (Hardcover)

Helen Hawthorne is moving up in the world. She has a new job making over twelve dollars and hour, a credit card, and a cell phone. The only downside is she hates working at Florida's Superior Club where only the ultra wealthy can get in. As a service rep, she feels not much more than a drone listening to the complaints of the members who expect her to satisfy their demands instantly. To make matters more unbearable, Helen's ex husband Rob has sailed into the docking area with his billionaire wife, Marcella known as the Black Widow.

When they meet Helen gets angry with him and pushes him. The next day the Black Widow reports her husband and jewelry are missing. Since there are witnesses to the shoving incident, the police arrest Helen. Marcella has her attorney get the charges dropped but in return the Black Widow wants Helen to find what frightened Rob into running away. While investigating, Helen stumbles across two murdered bodies. The amateur sleuth decides the Superior Club and its members have some dark secrets that make her uncomfortable working there, but first she feels she must find Rob who fled after stealing jewelry; unaware that her snooping makes her a likely next victim.

Elaine Viets Dead End Job mysteries are always fun and this one like its predecessors is too as the clues are always out there for the reader to identify the killer, if they can recognize these are clues. CLUBBED TO DEATH is one of the best in this delightful long running series due to a fascinating colorful support cast who range from eccentric to deranged. Fans will empathize with the heroine who is caught between her ethics and her sustenance economics even as she makes inquires that place her in danger.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It was a good book, May 26, 2008

By 

Leslie Minor - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clubbed to Death: A Dead-End Job Mystery (Hardcover)

This was a good book- I have been waiting for it for a long time love all in this series- the payoff isn't what i was hoping for but isn't that what a good book should be?? if you are a fan of this series you won't be disappointed!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE ALL ELAINES BOOKS, July 3, 2009

By 

S. Schreiber "HARMET" (renton, wa USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Clubbed To Death: A Dead-End Job Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

I OWN EVERY ONE OF ELAINES BOOKS AND LIKE THEM ALL.. JUST WAITING FOR NEXT IDEA TO BE PUT INTO PRINT....