Every Crooked Nanny (Callahan Garrity Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Kathy Hogan Trocheck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2004 | Series: Callahan Garrity Mysteries

After ten years of cleaning up the dirt on Atlanta's streets, Callahan Garrity is trading in her badge for a broom and a staff of house cleaners. But, though the uniform is a little different, Callahan soon finds herself right back in the middle of a mystery when a client's pretty, pious nineteen-year-old nanny is gone ... along with the jewelry, silver, and a few rather sensitive real estate documents.

Before she knows it, the meticulous Callahan is up to her elbows in a case involving illicit love triangles, crooked business deals, long-distance scams, and a dead body. Now she has to roll up her sleeves and start some industrial strength sleuthing to solve -- and survive -- this mess.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this high-caliber debut, Trocheck introduces wry Everywoman J. Callahan Garrity, a former cop and failed gumshoe who now runs a cleaning service in Atlanta, Ga. While cleaning the home of snooty society lady Lilah Rose Beemish, Callahan is hired to trace Kristee, the family's Mormon nanny, who has absconded with furs, jewels and, Callahan learns, incriminating business secrets gleaned from Lilah's husband Bo during their affair. Callahan's investigation leads her to Kristee's zealous Mormon boyfriend, to a miffed lesbian who loved the missing woman and then to Kristee's body, stored in a fur vault with Lilah's black sable. Bo and Lilah seem increasingly likely suspects as Callahan digs up dirt about Bo's shady multimillion-dollar real estate deal, all the while operating her business and coping with the discovery of a lump in her breast. Down-to-earth and independent, Callahan is surrounded by equally vivid, captivating characters, including her nosy, chain-smoking mom and a gossipy, unreliable cleaning staff, who want in on Callahan's investigative action. A clever, colorful page-turner, not to be missed.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Cloying debut of ex-Atlanta cop turned part-time p.i. Callahan Garrity, who, with her wisecracking, three-pack-a-day mom, Edna Mae, also runs House Mouse, a cleaning business that's short on help, which means that Callahan arrives to tidy the Beamish residence just as Kristee, the nanny, is discovered missing--along with jewels, furs, rare coins, and important business papers. Callahan also discovers that the wayward Kristee was juggling three romances, had lied about her Mormon background, was blackmailing the philandering Bo Beamish about a shady real-estate deal he'd hustled, and, as a result of all this--or some of it--is now lying dead in the fur vault at Rich's department store. Whodunit? The House Mouse maids reconnoiter various homes, while the police arrest the wrong suspect. Meanwhile, Callahan makes lots of calls to Utah; Edna Mae pays the killer a visit; and the sinners are separated from the Church of the Latter-day Saints. Overly cute, with (predictably) the cleanup crews finding all the clues. And heavy-handed attempts at social satire, plus leaden repartee between Callahan and her mom and cop friends, don't help. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Avon (November 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061091707
• ISBN-13: 978-0061091704
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kathy Hogan Trocheck has published 17 novels, 10 critically-acclaimed mysteries under her own name and seven other bestselling novels writing as Mary Kay Andrews.

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, Trocheck earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Georgia in 1976. She started her professional journalism career in Savannah, Georgia, where she covered the real-life murder trials which were the basis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. She left journalism after a ten-year stint as a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Her first book, Every Crooked Nanny, featuring a clever, snoopy housecleaner named Callahan Garrity, appeared in 1992. It was followed by seven other Garrity novels including To Live and Die in Dixie (1993), Homemade Sin (1994), Happy Never After (1995), Heart Trouble (1996), Strange Brew (1997), Midnight Clear (1998), and Irish Eyes (2000). The two Truman Kicklighter novels were Lickety Split (1996) and Crash Course (1997).

The first novel to be published under the name Mary Kay Andrews was Savannah Blues (2002). It was followed by Little Bitty Lies (2003); Hissy Fit (2004); the New York Times bestseller, Savannah Breeze (2006); the New York Times bestseller, Blue Christmas (2007); Deep Dish (2008); and the New York Times bestseller, The Fixer Upper (2009).

Her mysteries have been nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Macavity Awards.

As a lifelong "junker" the author claims to know the location of every promising thrift store, flea market, and junkpile in the southeastern United States, plus many parts of Ohio.

She is a frequent lecturer and writing teacher at workshops including Emory University, The University of Georgia's Harriet Austin Writer's Workshop, the Tennessee Mountain Writer's Workshop, and the Antioch Writer's Workshop. Her mysteries have been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, Agatha and Macavity Awards.

Married to her high school sweetheart, she is the mother of two grown children and a proud grandmother. After a brief hiatus in Raleigh, NC, she and her husband moved back to their old neighborhood in Atlanta, where they live in a restored 1926 Craftsman bungalow. She divides her time between Atlanta and her restored beach cottage on Tybee Island, GA.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Cozy Mystery, June 6, 2003

By 

Sandi Jones (Cincinnati, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Every Crooked Nanny (Callahan Garrity Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is Kathy Hogan Trocheck's first mystery published. Normally, I would be afraid to pick up anyone's first mystery, but Trocheck comes off as a seasoned professional. It is a smooth fast read.

Callahan Garrity, former Atlanta police officer, tried her hand at becoming a personal investigator. After finding out that it was not as lucrative as she had hoped, and nearly at the end of her money, Callahan bought the "House Mouse" cleaning service with her hard talking, chain smoking, blue haired mother Edna Mae Garrity.

Running a cleaning service puts Callahan in touch with an interesting cross section of the population. Her cleaning staff is quite a colorful cast of women. Then there is the other end of the spectrum, her clientele.

Callahan, by an odd twist of fate, has to go clean the home of a new client when she faces a labor shortage one morning. Upon arriving on the premises, who does she find is married to one of the local society big shots, but a sorority sister from her college days. Imagine that, and Callahan wearing an apron.

What starts off as a routine cleaning job turns into a crime investigation. What starts as a crime investigation turns into a series of crimes being investigated, and all of this while trying to keep a business running. In the course of cleaning homes, the members of the House Mouse are in a position to learn the most intimate details about their client's lives. Her cleaning staff learns the finer points of investigating crimes, all the while cleaning house.

Callahan has to tap into her old connection at the police department to solve the heinous crimes. We find out quite a bit about her tenure on the force.

There is a wonderful thread of religious misunderstanding and education as a sub-thread of the tale. Some have criticized that this thread was not as detailed as it could have been, but I would argue that it cleared up quite a few misconceptions, enough to make that plot element work. If a reader wanted to know all of the nitty gritty details of that faith, they could research further on their own.

I despise spoilers, so I will not give any more on the plot, but it is a good fast read with engaging characters.
The gore factor is low, and there are a few salty words, but few and far between. It has a pretty lightweight feel overall.

I plan on reading more of Kathy Hogan Trocheck's books, and hope to see much more of Callahan Garrity and especially Edna Mae Garrity.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wish I had discovered KHT a long time ago!, August 28, 2001

By 

Kim K. (Bayonne, New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Every Crooked Nanny (Callahan Garrity Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

A long time ago a friend from work lent me the book Strange Brew, which I immediately loved and I was determined to begin the Callahan Garrity series in chronological order. I breezed through this in 2 days and found it to be a fast, fun read. I definitely plan to continue with the rest of the Callahan Garrity series. The concept of running a housecleaning business while solving murder mysteries is a very good one. The other characters also play a major part in the story, beginning with Callahan's mom Edna as well as the 'girls' that work for their House Mouse cleanup biz, plus Bucky Deaver, a cop that Callahan used to work with when she was a police officer on the Atlanta force. If you like mysteries where the main character has both intelligence and a sense of humor, then you can't go wrong with this series. Very highly recommended.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, August 16, 2001

By 

Reecia Thompson Stoglin "Re'" (Arlington, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Every Crooked Nanny (Callahan Garrity Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I was introduced to this book & writer through a co-worker. Once I began to read it, I couldn't stop until the last page. I fell in love with the wild characters of House Mouse. I plan to read the rest of the series.