Customer Reviews

Dusted To Death (Charlotte LaRue)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
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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.

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.

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.

Barbara Culley's character of Charlotte La Rue remains funny and the plot interesting. Wish she had more books out to carry on the series, I have read the rest. She has interesting house cleaning hints at the end.

Each book in this series is wonderful, and this one certainly doesn't disappoint. Ms. Colley just keeps getting better. Her characters and their situations in New Orleans keep reader interest throughout. I highly recommend this book!

I have recently discovered Barbara Colley's Charlotte Larue mysteries series and I've read all seven of them in the past few weeks. I love this 60-something cleaning lady! She is smart, gutsy, good sense of right versus wrong...and very good at her job! This last one (so far) is my favorite but each one of them have been excellent. I hope Ms. Colley continues with this series as I feel like "one of the Larue family"!

In New Orleans at sixty-three years of age, Charlotte LaRue still has the energy to perform the work of her business Maid for a Day as she cleans for selected clients who prefer her only. Bitsy Dhue asks Charlotte to watch her Victorian house as well as keeping it clean because a movie company is going to film there. It is a two week gig and she will receive $5000 for this pristine assignment.

One of the movie stars is Angel Martinique who has the reputation of her first name, but as Charlotte quickly learns G-string is apropos rather than the G rating reputation of this Hollywood heater, who away from the lights is a spoiled virago. Charlotte enters a room to find the body of Angel's boyfriend Nick Franklin. She also notices next to the corpse, the letter opener used in a recent Angel scene and later confirmed by the cops as the murder weapon. Angel is arrested but her chauffeur Benny who loves her persuades Charlotte, whom he has heard solved homicides, to help him prove her innocence by finding the real culprit.

This amateur sleuth is terrific due to the Hollywood invasion that leads to an intricately created mystery. The heroine has strong instincts and her work enables her to notice clues in what seems like spotless segues. Fans will enjoy Charlotte cleaning up the crime scene not aware the killer is watching her .

Harriet Klausner