Customer Reviews

Murder with Reservations (Dead-End Job Mystery)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was my favorite in the series so far. A fun read with all the usual twists and turns and unusual characters. The insight into minimum wage jobs is always enlightening and I'll never be able to stay in a hotel again without thinking of this book. I can't wait for the next one. I hope you have a full and speedy recovery from your stroke Elaine and can get back to working on the next installment. I can't wait to find out what happens next!

This wonderful book takes us and Helen Hawthorn into the world of the hotel maid. We have all stayed in at least one hotel in out lives have we ever stopped to think what the hotel maids see in their daily rounds of earning a living? I found this book to be entertaining and very informative. This is a must read. I was really shocked of the news of Elaine Viets suffering a stroke, such a beautiful talented lady My prayers and best wishes are with you. God Bless You Elaine.

For fans of the series who have been wondering what would happen if Helen's horrible ex-husband ever caught up with her, this latest Dead-End installment takes a stab at answering the question. Whether or not you, as a reader, will be satisfied with the result will depend on what kind of resolution you're looking for.

Helen Hawthorne's latest dead-end job is as a hotel maid at Full Moon Hotel at Fort Lauderdale. The work is backbreaking and thankless, but Helen finds that she is up to the job. Her fellow workers as efficient and competent and mostly nice -- even perpetual complainer Rhonda has her good points. So that when Rhonda fails to turn up for work, Helen believes that Rhonda has finally had enough and has thrown her dustmop The last thing anyone expected was that Rhonda would turn up dead in the dumpster behind the hotel. For Helen, the horror of the situation is magnified: not only has another dead body turned up at her place of work, but Helen has just recently that her ex-husband has arrived at Fort Lauderdale, intent on tracking her down. Realising that she cannot afford to draw attention to herself, Helen resolves to discover who murdered Rhonda as quickly as possible before her ex catches up with her...

"Murder With Reservations" was a very quick and enjoyable read. The plot was well constructed with a few interesting plot twists to keep things interesting, and the character portrayals were sharp and mischievously acid in a light hearted way. Helen's refusal to face up to her husband may strike some readers as being a tad foolish -- esp since she had quite a few friends willing to help her face up to her ex-husband. But it seemed very plausible to me. For myself, I thought that Helen's attitude added a whole new psychological twist to the whole situation that should make for some rather interesting reading down the road when Helen finally feels strong enough to face her rat of an ex-husband. Speaking for myself, I rather enjoyed the author's creative handling of the whole ex-husband subplot. For now though, it'll just be interesting to see if Helen decides to quit her dead-end jobs or carry on. All in all a very enjoyable and aborbing read.

Helen Hawthorne is on the run. She's avoiding her jerk ex-husband and some serious alimony problems. To keep herself fed, and to avoid detection, she's taken a job in a hotel cleaning rooms. She should be safe. But the gods of good luck are not on Helen's side. Her ex is hot on her trail, there may be a large amount of cash hidden by a bank robber somewhere in the hotel--and then there are the dead bodies (including a co-worker, Rhonda who meets her demise and is stashed in a dumpster).

The cops seem more interested in Helen than the murdered Rhonda. She'd better solve the mysteries that abound, or she might be a target. And if that isn't enough, her ex has his own plans for her.

This is my first Viets mystery and it's a rollicking romp into Hawthorne's complicated life. It's fast-paced, humorous, with delicious characters and an interesting plot. It's just a wonderful 'beach read.'

Armchair Interviews says: Check out the other titles in Viets Dead-End Job Mystery Series. And then take a peek at her Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper Series.

I agonize too much about writing reviews of books I really love, so I'm going to throw all that out the window and tell you that you are going to love this novel. More, you're going to fall in love with Helen and her friends. I am enchanted by novels where I find myself wishing to meet the characters. In this series, I long to spend time by the pool with Helen and Peggy and Margery and Phil. I'll bring the margaritas, I promise!

Elaine Viets will also change the way you think about so called "deadbeat" jobs. I have been a waitress but never a motel maid, and I will forever be a different and better hotel guest after reading her book. This is a lesson so gently and wittily given there's no pinch.

I'm buying this series in hardcover, because I can tell these novels will become what my sister calls "good friends," the books you pick up when you're exhausted and just want to relax and get away. I'm so glad I read this book. You will be, too.

Helen has a knack of discovering dead bodies, and this time she finds one in the hotel where she is working in another non-traceable job. Helen's louse of an ex-husband is hot on her trail in this episode, since he has lost another of his meal-ticket girlfriends and desperately needs Helen to pay up on his divorce settlement. Is there really a hidden stash of robbery money in the hotel? Should Helen flee again or stay and fight for justice? Helen's boyfriend and her Landlady have very different ideas of how she should keep her freedom in Ft. Lauderdale. This is just a fun mystery for the poolside, or beach and as usual, Elaine Viets does not disappoint. I can't wait to read the next one to see what happens to Rob!

After catching her husband cheating on her with their neighbor, Helen Hawthorne destroyed his SUV. The Judge directed her to pay her former spouse half her salary in an alimony settlement. Rather than remit one dime to this louse, Helen went on the lam and accepted low paying dead end jobs in the Ft. Lauderdale area. Her sister calls helento tell her that Rob the rat is now in the Fort Lauderdale area looking for her. When Helen goes to her maid job at the Full Moon Motel she learns Rob is a guest there looking at her employment record.

While eluding the despicable Rob, Helen finds the murdered corpse of another maid in the motel dumpster. The last time Helen saw Rhonda was three days ago when the woman was talking about her wealthy boyfriend giving her several fifty dollar bills so that she could purchase an airline ticket for her mom to vacation in Mexico. When Rob visits Helen's home, he meets his ex-wife's landlady who sets him up with an affluent sexagenarian widow, whose husbands died under mysterious circumstances. When someone else dies at the motel, Helen goes on red alert sleuthing to the point of potentially lethal consequences.

MURDER WITH RESERVATIONS is the best mystery in this charming amateur sleuth series as Elaine Viets adds wit and humor into her characters. The heroine continues to earn the respect and admiration of the audience with her efforts to make a new life for herself. The continuing support cast is a colorful eccentric mob with hearts of gold as they look out for one another including Helen. The whodunit is fun to follow as Helen pursues clues while eluding her ex. Fans of Ms. Viets should also read her other jocular series starring Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper.

Harriet Klausner

This is my first review of this author and I want to read more of her. This was a light funny romp with such great realistic turns of the tongue. All those truisms for gals in a fantastical plot. what fun! ( & I've had dead end jobs too!)

All I can say is this was great. Yes...the best one in this series. It will definitely keep me coming back for more dead end books. Elaine Viets definitely cares and respects her readers.

This time Helen has a job cleaning rooms at the Full Moon Hotel and it isn't exactly a pleasant way to earn a living. Helen gets along with her co-workers and her boss is actually considerate. That's when Helen's ex starts closing in on her. She has to contact all her former employers to make sure they don't give her whereabouts away to Rob.
While that's going on a co-worker, Rhonda, disappears...but re-appears in the dumpster. How did she die? Was it murder? If so who killed her and why? Who was this boyfriend of Rhonda's that was giving her money and filling her with promises? Does he have anything to do with her death/murder? Helen has to find out his identity.
Rhonda is replaced with Craig a hard worker who knows how to clean. But why would a man want to be a maid in a hotel? Everyone working at the Full Moon has been searching for the lost $100,000 left by one of the robbers that had been staying at the Full Moon. Can Helen find the money? Does that money have anything to do with Rhonda's murder...or her replacement-craig?
Meanwhile at the Coranado Margery, Helen's flambouyant landlady, decides to help Helen in a round about way. Margery has an old friend, Marcella. She fixes Helen's ex, Rob, up with Marcella on a blind date. They hit it off big time. But why is Marcella known as the Black widow? Phil knows and he tells Helen.
Peggy, one of Helen's neighbors at the Coronado is ripped off by a professional scam artist. But wait...will that scam artist tie in with the woman, Arlene, in apt. 2C?

By the time we get to the end The author has tied up all the loose ends and bleieve it or not they tie in together. I absolutely loved this book. elaine Viets brought it home this time in a big way.
Ellen

THE FIRST BOOK I'VE READ BY THIS AUTHOR. SO ENJOYABLE, I WILL ENDEAVOR TO READ MORE BY HER.