Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$2.79 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Hung Out to Die: A Stain-busting Mystery
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Hung Out to Die: A Stain-busting Mystery [Mass Market Paperback]

Sharon Short (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Price: $6.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
  Special Offers Available
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Usually ships within 5 to 8 days.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Paperback --  
Mass Market Paperback $6.99  

Book Description

January 31, 2006

There's no fun in dysfunctional

Small-town laundress Josie Toadfern has her own fair share of dirty laundry -- namely the Toadfern clan! Ostracized from the family unit ever since her parents dumped eight-year-old Josie in a local orphanage, the stain-busting dynamo's stunned to find herself invited to crabby old family matriarch "Mamaw" Toadfern's Thanksgiving celebration -- and too curious to refuse.

But an even bigger shock is waiting for her there: Josie's long lost mom and pop, blandly unapologetic and full of new -- probably illegal -- get-rich-quick schemes. And when a dead body is tossed into the already explosive chaos of bitter feelings, intra-family feuding, and incinerated turkey meat, Josie finds herself in the most uncomfortable position of having to prove her disreputable dad innocent of murder. But cleaning up messes is Josie's business. And sometimes blood is thicker than cranberry sauce -- and a much more difficult stain to eliminate.


Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • This item is eligible for our 4-for-3 promotion. Eligible products include select Books and Home & Garden items. Buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free. Here's how (restrictions apply)

Frequently Bought Together

Hung Out to Die: A Stain-busting Mystery + Murder Unfolds (Stain-Busting, Book 5) + Tie Dyed and Dead: A Stain-busting Mystery (Stain-Busting Mysteries)
Price For All Three: $20.97

Some of these items ship sooner than the others. Show details

Buy the selected items together
  • Usually ships within 5 to 8 days.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Murder Unfolds (Stain-Busting, Book 5) $6.99

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Tie Dyed and Dead: A Stain-busting Mystery (Stain-Busting Mysteries) $6.99

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details



Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Short's books about [Josie Toadfern]... save a lot of smarts for character and plot." -- Chicago Tribune, Feb. 5, 2006

"...a delightful and entertaining read." -- Mysteries Galore

"...entertains you with [a] plausible mystery plot while keeping you rolling on the floor laughing." -- New Mystery Reader Magazine

"...funny, fast read for anyone who likes their mysteries liberally sprinkled with humor.... Josie makes a charming heroine..." -- Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine, February 2006

"...never laughed so much while reading a mystery ...loved every minute of it... could not put this book down." -- Myshelf.com

About the Author

Sharon Short's humor column, "Sanity Check," appears every Monday in the Dayton Daily News. Her fiction credits include several short mysteries published in Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine and Orchard Press Online Mystery Magazine. In addition, Ms. Short is a principal of her own marketing communications firm and has a bachelor's and a master's degree in English. She lives in Miamisburg, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.


Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Avon (January 31, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060793244
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060793241
  • Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #697,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I had only one ambition as a child--to be a writer. When everyone told me hardly anyone ever makes a living as a writer, I briefly considered becoming a policewoman (because the trench coats looked so cool in all those '70's police dramas) or a psychologist (with the hope of finally understanding my family). Nevertheless, heart won out over practicality, and I became a writer. The police and psychology bits, though, come through in my mystery writing.

Now, I delight in mixing humor with mystery in my Stain-Busting Mystery Series, published by Avon Books. The series features Josie Toadfern, self-taught stain expert and Laundromat owner, and is set in fictional Paradise, Ohio. Josie cleans up crime one hilarious load at a time, while sharing changes, advances and set-backs in her personal life. She's guardian to her cousin Guy, an adult with autism, and her best friends are Sally and Cherry. Her love life is currently a roller-coaster!

I am also a humor columnist; my column, Sanity Check appears every Monday in the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) and covers everything from shredding pantyhose for stress relief, to talking refrigerators. My fiction credits include short mysteries published in Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine, Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine, and Orchard Press Online Mystery Magazine.

 

Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars fun family drama, February 1, 2006
This review is from: Hung Out to Die: A Stain-busting Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)
In Paradise, Ohio Josie Toadfern was two when her daddy abandoned her; not long afterward her mother dumped her in an orphanage. Whereas her paternal side led by her grandma said she was dead, her maternal Uncle Horace and Aunt Clara raised her as if she was their offspring. Twenty-two years later, her father's mother septuagenarian Mamaw Toadfern wants to allegedly see her after all this time when she only lived on the other side of the river from where Josie grew up and now runs Toadfern's Laundromat while claiming to be the national expert on stain removal.

Thus that is why she is having Thanksgiving with the Toadfern brood when her parents arrive. They want to forget the past offering a deal involving a flea market. However, unforgiving Uncle Fenwick Toadfern rejects the peace offering with the two men threatening to kill one another. Not long afterward someone kills Fenwick trying to make it seem like a suicide, but local officials think hid death is a homicide and hone in on Josie's daddy as the prime suspect. Josie believes someone else killed her uncle after removing a stain from his favorite shirt.

The first half of the tale is a soap opera family drama that introduces the audience to a horde of Toads and a heroine struggling with a sudden rash of relatives who never recognized her as alive until now including her biological parents. The interrelation dynamics are interesting to follow as the audience gain insight mostly from the baffled heroine who understands stain removal a lot better than blood relatives. The suspense comes in the latter half as fans along with Josie will learn that family is inside the heart, not the blood.

Harriet Klausner
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Dysfunctional family and murder, January 4, 2007
This review is from: Hung Out to Die: A Stain-busting Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)
Josie Toadfern has been separated from her family since she was eight. Her parents dropped her off in the local orphanage, and her dad's family refused to have anything to do with her.

Now her grandma "Mamaw" Toadfern wants her to come to Thanksgiving dinner. Against her better judgment, she accepts. Once there, she regrets going. Even more so when her long lost parents show up for dinner. Things go from bad to worse when she finds a dead relative while out walking with a friend.

Her mom begs her to help clear her father's name. She doesn't want to do it. But to keep peace in the town, she decides to help. Can she clear her father's name and keep them from ruining the town with their new get-rich scheme? Can she do all this without putting herself in danger?

In the meantime, she is having second thoughts about her situation with her boyfriend.

Josie is a great character. I always enjoy reading a book in this series. She is so down to earth and likeable. It doesn't surprise me all the situations she gets into.

The author has done a great job of creating a town full of quirky but likeable characters. I can't wait for the next book. I highly recommend this book and the whole series.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Better Than The Last One, November 28, 2006
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Hung Out to Die: A Stain-busting Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)
I really didn't enjoy the last book in this series much, so I was glad to find this one a much better read.

The thing I didn't like about this one was how wimpy Josie seemed. Her parents left her when she was a child, but she never stood up to them about it...she just kept going along meekly with whatever her mother said or wanted. She never stood up to her grandmother about cutting her off from the family. And she never stood up to Owen for basically ending their relationship, instead talking and acting like they were still a couple.

I'd like to see Josie grow a backbone in future installments, and stop allowing herself to be everyone's doormat.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
"Now, this square was cut from your Uncle Fenwick's football warm-up jersey, after the 1970 season," Mamaw Toadfern said, as she stared at the crazy quilt spread on top of her bed, which was itself covered in another crazy quilt. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
stain expert, cistern lid, old orphanage, cranberry salad, damned man, plumbing business, turkey carcass
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Uncle Fenwick, Aunt Nora, Mamaw Toadfern, Uncle Horace, Aunt Clara, Chief Worthy, Rich Burkette, Mason County, Antique Depot, Bobby John, John Worthy, Junior Hedberg, Red Horse Motel, Youth Dew, Aunt Suzy, Deputy Dean, Uncle Otis, Effie Burkette, Josie Toadfern, Lenny Burkette, Rachel Burkette, Sandy's Restaurant, Uncle Randolph, Caleb Loudermilk, Kansas City
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

Citations (learn more)


Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject