Dusted To Death (Charlotte LaRue) [Hardcover]

Barbara Colley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2010

When a big Hollywood studio wants to use Bitsy Duke's gorgeous Victorian home for a movie shoot, she agrees, but only if Charlotte LaRue agrees to take care of her place during the shoot. The cast includes one of Hollywood's hottest ingenues, Angel Martinique. But as Charlotte quickly discovers, Angel is no saint - in fact, she's a complete diva. On the shoot, tensions run high, especially when Angel's friend Gavin is found dead in the star's dressing room. Charlotte senses there's more to Angel's story than meets the ye. But a little digging into her past turns up a lot more dirt than she bargained for - enough to put Charlotte in a killer's crosshairs if she doesn't watch her step...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Colley's featherweight eighth mystery to feature New Orleans maid Charlotte LaRue (after 2008's Wash and Die), Charlotte must keep tidy a Garden District mansion being used as a set for a movie starring legendary actor Hunter Lansky and hot rising actress Angel Martinique. Filming's barely underway when Charlotte discovers Angel's two-timing boyfriend stabbed to death with a letter opener, which turns out to be covered with Angel's fingerprints. Angel's chauffeur asks Charlotte to investigate, and the two head to Oakdale, Miss., to learn what they can about Angel's early life. Charlotte's PI boyfriend, Louis Thibodeaux, can't help because he's out of town, but Charlotte, a housecleaner's answer to Jessica Fletcher, has learned that cheese graters, bleach and buckets can come in handy in her sleuthing work. Charlotte is a sweetie, but this conventional cozy series could use some extra-strength twists to give it more heft. (Jan.)
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Review

"This cozy series gets better with each book. Colley allows Charlotte to grow as a character while still telling the delightful mysteries." -- Library Journal

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (January 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075822253X
• ISBN-13: 978-0758222534
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,186,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Reading with Tequila, February 21, 2010

By 

Jennifer Sicurella (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dusted To Death (Charlotte LaRue) (Hardcover)

Dusted to Death is the 8th book in the Maid-for-a-Day series. This time around Charlotte is working with Hollywood-type people who have come to New Orleans to film a new movie. The lead actress's boyfriend is murdered and Charlotte sets out to find the killer.

Things end predictably when Charlotte was attacked by the killer and had to physically fight them off, as is the case with just about every title in this series. She's a 60-something woman who constantly prevails over much younger attackers and survives to clean another day. In an unexpected move, the lead detective begins taking Charlotte seriously as a would-be detective. I found this annoying. The police, including Charlotte's niece, constantly tell her not to get involved and yet this time, they're all but literally patting her on the back for meddling. The huge positive in Dusted to Death was that I had no idea who the killer was until they were finally revealed.

Barbara Colley writes a very good mystery, which seems to be the only reason I continue reading this series. I have no love for Charlotte. She is forever chiding others for their swearing, bringing up "the Lord" at seemingly random occasions and is strangely clueless about her would-be relationship with her neighbor, Louis. She's an older woman that I could not stand to be around. She grates on me to the point where I kind of wish one of the killers would just do her in already.

There were a lot of tiny personal annoyances and many situations that seemed highly unrealistic, but Dusted to Death does contain a compelling mystery. Perhaps the Maid-for-a-Day series would be a better fit for a generation or two older than myself.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars my 1st charlotte larue, December 3, 2010

By 

gabrielle abrams (rome,italy via d.c.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dusted To Death (Charlotte LaRue) (Hardcover)

i bought the paperback from amazon.it cause i liked the title.it's funny and good clean fun about some likeable real people.there isn't much suspense but it doesn't matter.i like the new orleans background and the heroine.will probably get her other books.

3.0 out of 5 stars Who did it...Review by Sisterhood book Club, March 7, 2011

By 

Claudia Brown-Mosley "Author" (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dusted To Death (Charlotte LaRue) (Hardcover)

There's a film studio in New Orleans that finds Bitsy house fabulous to want to pay her to use her house for a movie. The film studio has to hire Bitsy housekeeper to seal the deal and her name is Charlotte. Charlotte is use to the hustle and bustle so she goes in to the job done but one thing wasn't disclosed to Charlotte and that she has to deal with an actress name Angel and her drama with her man. She quickly falls into the responsibilities she is told to do although she has to bit her tongue to get the job done.

As the days goes on and she finds herself meeting up with people of all kinds including her son BF, turns out to be Angel limousine driver. After all the years that pass was really a shocking sight for Charlotte because the life style he lived didn't look to glorifying for him to turn out to be an outstanding person.

After some days of hard work and continue reporting day after day she comes in and there wasn't too much terrific going on yet. She goes up stairs to check it out and comes across a dead body and it was the men of the actress and he was stabbed with a letter opener. Charlotte screams for help and call 911 to become the main suspect at the moment until the limousine driver request extra help to clear Angel name because she was arrested moments later for the death of her man.

They find themselves going deep into Angel background in this little town to come up empty handed but with Charlotte experience of this not being her first murder case. She explores more and get deeper to find out that someone had it out for both Angel and her man.