Heart Trouble: A Callahan Garrity Mystery [Hardcover]

Kathy Hogan Trocheck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1996

Cleaning lady-turned-sleuth Callahan Garrity investigates when Whitney Dobbs, the drunken ex-wife of a prominent cardiologist, who gets away with running over a little girl in the park, is gunned down while doing her community service.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the midst of preparations to host the Olympics, the city of Atlanta is locked in the grip of racial tension when a drunk driver, wealthy white socialite Whitney Dobbs, runs down a black child and is sentenced to a small fine and 100 hours of community service. Callahan Garrity, owner of The House Mouse cleaning service and part-time PI, reluctantly takes on some detective work for Whitney, whose ex-husband, well-known cardiologist, Carson Dobbs, is suspected of financial hanky-panky. Meanwhile, Whitney is gunned down while collecting garbage for the city and Callahan, whose mother, Edna, is just out of the hospital, is drawn into the murder investigation. In Callahan's fifth outing (following Happy Never After), memorable characters abound, from the two elderly black sisters, Baby and Sister Easterbrooks, House Mouse employees who use Kotex for dinner napkins, to Neva Jean, another employee, who is allergic to the emus her husband has just bought. Traveling from the heights of Atlanta society to the depressed area known as the Promised Land, Callahan narrates her newest adventure with zesty enthusiasm, all the way to a thrilling climax with the murderer in a rustic cabin. Trocheck has a sure winner in Callahan.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA?Feisty ex-cop Callahan Garrity owns and manages an Atlanta cleaning service, plus runs a private-detective business. As the city prepares for the summer Olympics, Whitney Dobbs becomes the target of hate after she is acquitted of killing a young black girl while driving drunk. Callahan reluctantly accepts the rich woman's plea for help in solving financial problems in her divorce. When Whitney is murdered, the private eye sets out to determine who did it. The plot is simple and straightforward, but the most puzzling mystery is why the book jacket features two white rollerblades that have no significance to the plot. However, the story provides lively, glib dialogue from delightfully eccentric characters such as Miss Sister Easterbrooks, her sister Miss Baby, and Callahan's mom, Edna. The heroine exudes strength of character, courage, and independence yet maintains her humanness. All of Trocheck's characters are blessed with a sense of humor, a zest for life, and devotion to others that is often lacking in Sue Grafton's novels. This light leisure reading will hook young adults into other mysteries as well as more Trocheck.?Linda Diane Townsend, formerly at Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 295 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060176385
• ISBN-13: 978-0060176389
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,395 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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Series!, June 17, 2001

By 

Born to Read (East Coast) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Heart Trouble (Mass Market Paperback)

I love this series and it simply gets better and better. If you're new to this series, take advantage and begin at the beginning. The stories are interesting without being overly done or contrived. The characters are complex and welcomed visitors. Trocheck really has something here.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doughnuts and crack, October 11, 2000

By 

D. P. Birkett (Suffern, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Heart Trouble (Mass Market Paperback)

I came to this one after "Every Dead Nanny" and "Happy Never After" so for once I'm reading a series in the right order. I thought this was the best of the three. The plot is believable from beginning almost to the end (I never quite buy those heroine-save-in-the-nick-of-time scenes but they seem obligatory in this female private eye genre which is a descendant of romantic suspense). It unfolds piece by piece rather than being a series of interviews and the murderer is the kind of surprise that has you turning back pages and saying "why didn't I think of that?" Some great writing. I loved a scene where she describes a vivid temptation to buy Krispy Kreme doughnuts and then looks across the street and describes a crack-buying transaction.

2.0 out of 5 stars Critique of Heart Trouble, August 29, 2009

By 

Ann W. Mobley "book Mom" (Fortson, Ga.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heart Trouble (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the better books in this series. I have not finished all of them. She keeps your sttention. Her endings have suprised me.