Customer Reviews

The Cluttered Corpse (A Charlotte Adams Mystery)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Cluttered Corpse is the second book in the Charlotte Adams, professional organizer, cozy series. Charlotte is a very likable heroine - she has her faults, but she is very genuine - a person any of us would enjoy knowing. Her friends remind me of very real people living very real lives. Their group dynamic is convincingly authentic - a group of friends who were close in high school but whose lives took them down very different paths and whose relationships have changed along the way. They are now all back in Woodbridge, NY, the small, idyllic town where they grew up. It's just small enough that neighbors know one another (some for all their lives) and aren't afraid to lend a hand, and yet close enough to the big city to be convenient.

Charlotte is hired by Emmy Lou Rheinbeck to organize a collection of stuffed animals that has literally taken over the second floor of her impeccable home. While there, Charlotte notices that Emmy Lou is very nervous and jumpy. She attributes the nervousness to pranks that are being played on Mrs. Rheinbeck by two handicapped adult males, one of whom lives next door. Charlotte wants to call the police, but Emmy Lou basically tells her to mind her own business and then fires her - which only serves to worry Charlotte even more. Emmy Lou later relents and asks Charlotte to meet her again, but this time when Charlotte arrives - late, unfortunately, to their appointment - she encounters an hysterical Emmy Lou in the street and finds a dead man at the bottom of Emmy Lou's stairs. When Emmy Lou is carted away from the scene in handcuffs, Charlotte resolves to do whatever she can to prove that this gentle woman didn't do anything wrong.

There has been a lot of strain in the relationship between Charlotte and her policewoman friend, Pepper, but Charlotte decides to ask for her help anyway. When Pepper tells Charlotte, in no uncertain terms, to stay out of it, Charlotte enlists the aid of the rest of her group of friends, which unknowingly puts them all in danger. Nothing on Bell Street is as it seems, and the reader will have a dickens of a time trying to figure things out. Chances are, the reader won't have any better luck than Charlotte!

This was a very enjoyable cozy with a very likable female protagonist and a great group of friends. I'll definitely be looking forward to the third book in this series, for the likable characters, the great story, and, of course, the great organizational tips!

Carol Ann Hopkins 4/4/2008

I couldn't believe that a book that has been professionally written, edited and published could be released with so many errors. Many times, there were complete words missing from sentences (i.e. "Remember in high school we geeks?" "Remember that in future.") or glaring misspellings ("I put the petal to the metal.") At one point, the client tells Charlotte he'll leave a check made out to her contractor at his house for her to pick up -- but then she picks up the check, cashes it, and pays the contractor in cash. How did she cash a check that was made out to someone else?

And that wasn't the worst of it. The character of Charlotte may be one of the most annoying to ever show up in a cozy. She meets a woman who wants to hire her and after knowing her for half an hour, she inserts herself right into the woman's life -- involving herself in what she views as harrassment of the woman, assuming she's innocent of a murder she claims to have committed. Charlotte then goes around barging in on the woman's family and neighbors, decides she should be the one to inform the client's husband of her situation, tries to force her best friend on the woman's husband to be her lawyer, puts her friends in all kinds of danger and disregards direct orders from the police to stay out of their case.

I hate stories where the main character has no reason for being involved in what's going on, and this book really took the cake. Charlotte didn't even know this woman to be so involved in what was going on. And despite the fact that Pepper kept telling her to stay out of things, she never did anything about it when Charlotte kept putting herself square in the center of everything. The whole thing became ludicrous after awhile.

There have been some outrageous professions chosen in cozies lately, but a professional organizer tops them all. Since there's little to no reason someone like this would be involved in murder and mystery, it seems we're in for more convoluted reasons for Charlotte to get involved in things that don't concern her. Frankly, I'll pass.

The second book in Mary Jane Maffini's Charlotte Adams series is a hoot - a really fun read. Her characters are believeable, the setting real and the plot full of twists. The character interplay and dynamics add to overall effect. Her organizing tips add to the enjoyment - they really make sense. I look forward to the next installment. Good job.

a winner...Once again Charlotte and friends (some not so much), find themselves embroiled in murder and mayhem.

I truly enjoy the author's ability to create a cozy that covers it all;
the friendships, the crimes, the main characters' foibles as well as her gifts of "de-cluttering" on all levels!!! This is one author who does not leave her readers hanging as she winds up all aspects of the crimes.

If you haven't read the first title in this series, treat yourself to that one as it does a wonderful job of introducing all the characters, is a great read and will lead you back to the store to purchase #2 in the series....Have fun

Summary

In "Organize Your Corpses," Charlotte Adams moves back to her hometown of Woodbridge, New York, after a broken engagement, to become a professional organizer. In solving the murder of the town's most unbeloved teacher, Charlotte reconnects with her best friends from high school.

In the second book of this series, "The Cluttered Corpse," Charlotte is hired to organize an extensive stuffed toy collection for high-power insurance executive, Emmy Lou Rheinbeck. Charlotte learns that Emmy Lou is being harassed by some of her neighbors. Upon her next visit to Emmy Lou's home, she discovers one of the neighbors dead and Emmy Lou confesses to murder.

Charlotte decides that she owes it to her client to help and begins organizing all of the clues in this mystery.

Kudos

This story moves along quickly and is full of likeable characters, including Truffle and Sweet Marie, two miniature dachshunds. Although Maffini makes us wait until chapter 7 for the murder, she deftly starts the mystery in chapter 1.

The organizing tips that appear at the beginning of each chapter are fun and useful--especially when they foreshadow the action that will occur in the chapter.

When I first picked up Maffini's books, I had a hard time liking Charlotte and listening to Maffini's "voice." I'm glad I didn't give up. This is a charming series and I look forward to her next book.

The second in the delightful Charlotte Adams mystery series, The Cluttered Corpse, is set in Woodbridge, New York. Charlotte has moved back home and is surrounded by her old friends and has plenty of clients for her organizing business. She visits the home of a new client, Emmy Lou Rheinbeck, to help her organize a collection. Her home is minimalist and modern on the interior, set in a traditional older neighborhood. There is nary a collection in sight, until they go upstairs, where Charlotte is astounded to see thousands of pastel stuffed animals. Her adoring husband started buying them when he heard she had never had a stuffed animal as a child.

While they are upstairs, a thump on the second-story bedroom window startles them. They are shocked to see two scary faces leering at them and then there is a camera flash. It is Kevin and Tony, two "harmless" neighborhood kids. Kevin lives next door, and he is a bit developmentally disabled, and Tony hangs around and takes advantage of him.

Emmy Lou is visibly shaken, and asks Charlotte to leave. As she is getting in her car, she sees neighbor Bill Baxter berating Kevin and Tony for bothering Emmy Lou. She decides to scrutinize the situation to see if the boys are stalking her, and talks to her friend Margaret, an attorney, and Pepper, a police detective. Pepper of course tells her to butt out-that they cannot do anything without a complaint from the citizen involved. When Charlotte returns for her second appointment with Emmy Lou, she finds her on the front step in hysterics, screaming, "I killed him!" When Charlotte goes into the house she finds Tony at the base of the steep stairway with a broken neck, surrounded by stuffed animals.

The possibilities are endless: Could it have been an accident? Why is Emmy Lou insisting she murdered Tony? Was Charlotte's husband Dwayne involved? Who is the beautiful young singer at his restaurant that he seems very close to? Is Emmy Lou protecting someone? Do her parents really live across the street, and why are they estranged?

You will really enjoy Charlotte and her friends Jack, Lilith, Margaret, Rose, and Sally. The ways they care for each other and try to help Charlotte investigate are very nice.

Armchair Interviews says: Very enjoyable read.

I just love this series, so well plotted and written. Of course it helps that I feel a little kinship with the protagonist, Charlotte Adams.

I really enjoyed this second installment in the Charlotte Adams series! It was a lot of fun, and I so enjoy the mix of characters. It kept me guessing right up until the end!

First Line: "You have saved my life."

When professional organizer Charlotte Adams steps into Emmy Lou Rheinbeck's home, the place looks fit to be featured in House Beautiful. Where's the mess that needs to be organized? When Emmy Lou shows Charlotte the second floor, Charlotte understands the reason for the call for help-- she's never seen so many stuffed animals in one place in her life.

Charlotte knows that she can handle this organizational problem, but she's not so sure Emmy Lou can handle her neighbors. Two young men are pulling cruel jokes on the woman until she's a nervous wreck. Emmy Lou insists that the pranksters are harmless, but before Charlotte can even put her plan to paper, she's up to her neck in a murder.

Two books in, and I like this series very much. One note of realism that I particularly appreciate is the fact that, after the first book, Charlotte makes it clear in The Cluttered Corpse that she lost a lot of business when the news media reported her involvement in a murder case. Most other series that feature an independent businessperson like Charlotte would have you think that business blithely goes on as usual, with nary a dip in clientele.

(As a side note, I have a thing for organization and places like The Container Store. I do hope in at least one future book, Charlotte gets to finish the project for which she was hired. I really enjoy that part of the books! I also pay attention to the organizing tips at the beginning of each chapter. My favorite in this book? "Don't bring anything new into your home unless you know you have a place to keep it. Except for books, of course.")

To get back on track... as I read, I first had the idea that Emmy Lou's neighborhood was flat-out weird and perhaps a little over-the-top until I remembered that, at one time, my own street housed six different nationalities, a 90 year age span from oldest to youngest-- and the house on the corner where young thieves would gather to plan their next rash of burglaries.

I deduced quite a bit of what was going on in The Cluttered Corpse, but as is the case with so many cozy mysteries, the whodunit isn't as important as the who. I enjoy hanging out with Charlotte and her crew, and Maffini's sense of humor can have me laughing out loud.

If you'd like to organize a fun and pleasant afternoon, I suggest you give Charlotte Adams a call.

Although I found the main character in the first book (ORGANIZE YOUR CORPSES) slightly annoying, she was unbearably annoying in this one. During the first book it made sense for her to investigate the murder as she was the chief suspect. In this story she spends less than an hour with a client and then forces her way in to this woman's life because she herself has absolutely no life of her own. She is constantly rehashing her thoughts on the murder to everyone OVER AND OVER AGAIN to the point of driving the reader insane. The book was as slow as frozen molasses and the ending was a jumbled ridiculous farce.

No wonder her former best friend Pepper doesn't like her. I don't like her either.