Taking The Wrap: A Mandy Dyer Mystery [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Dolores Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2005

In her seventh adventure, Denver's intrepid dry-cleaner/sleuth, Mandy Dyer, encounters a baffling case of mistaken identity - or is it? After dining at a local mountaintop restaurant, Mandy's friend Laura discovers that someone has taken her coat and left another in its place. The only clue to the owner's identity is an unfamiliar dry-cleaning mark. Mandy's casual inquiries turn serious when a dead body is discovered dressed in Laura's missing coat.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Protagonists of today's mystery series hold down jobs ranging from stripper to postal clerk to rock star--so why not dry cleaner? Luckily, Johnson realizes that the day-to-day details of Mandy Dyer's cleaning operation might not be so scintillating and uses the business mostly as a backdrop. In the seventh adventure in the series, Mandy uses a dry-cleaning tag to track down a woman whose coat was switched with that of Mandy's cousin Laura. Then the woman is found murdered, and Laura is struck by a hit-and-run driver, convincing Mandy that the coat switch has prompted the violence. Customers at the restaurant where Laura lost her coat provide plenty of colorful suspects. Although the mystery itself is not too difficult to solve, Johnson's ability to infuse comedy into the plot will keep readers chuckling. Good, clean fun. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Good, clean fun."
-- Booklist (Booklist )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 439 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing; 1 edition (March 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587249154
• ISBN-13: 978-1587249150
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,575,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly enjoyable and funny mystery, March 18, 2005

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Taking the Wrap : A Mandy Dyer Mystery (Hardcover)

It starts out as a straightforward dry cleaning problem. Mandy Dyer's cousin had a coat switched at a restaurant and she wants to get her own coat back. But when cousin Laura is involved in a hit-and-run as she leaves the dry cleaners, Mandy wonders if it could truly be coincidence. Coincidence is stretched past breaking when Mandy walks into an in-progress burglary at her cousin's apartment. With her matchmaking mother riding to the rescue, a hopelessly nerdy reporter falling for Laura, and a hunky detective causing problems for Mandy's heart, the problems look to be getting worse in a hurry.

Photographer Laura's restaurant photos seem a likely starting point. But who would have guessed that a small restaurant could cause so many problems--a man dining with a woman who isn't his wife, another couple confronted with news of the woman's unexpected pregnancy, a woman stood-up by her business partners, and a strange ghost-like double-exposure which could be just about anyone. Mandy presses on in her investigation--although occasionally her motives are more to get away from her mother than to solve the crime.

Author Dolores Johnson delivers a spunky heroine, amusing characters and dialogue, a very different background for her sleuth (I haven't seen any other dry-cleaner/detectives) and a well-written story. I enjoyed TAKING THE WRAP a lot.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars upbeat, often funny amateur sleuth, October 27, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Taking the Wrap : A Mandy Dyer Mystery (Hardcover)

While Laura was at the Rendezview Restaurant someone took her coat while she was taking photographs so she borrowed the last coat that was on the rack. In Laura's coat was a role of film she would like to get back and in the stranger's coat is a stamped envelope, a bottle of aspirin and a box of matches. Laura wants her friend Mandy, owner and proprietor of Dyer's Cleaning, to call other cleaners in the area to see if they have her coat. She figures they might be able to identify the other coat owner by tracing the laundry logs.

When Laura leaves the cleaning store, a car deliberately hits her, breaking her le:, Mandy rushes her to the hospital. When Laura is released, Mandy goes over to her apartment with some Chinese food to cheer her up only someone in the apartment hits her from behind. Mandy thinks that her unknown assailant is looking for the photos or the coat and starts another one of her investigations that almost gets her killed.

TAKING THE WRAP is an upbeat, often funny amateur sleuth mystery due to the heroine's mother's visit to take care of Laura and help Mandy in her investigation. All that does is make a bad situation worse when she tells people things they don't need to know. In between her botched matchmaking efforts, Mandy does the impossible and finds the coat that belonged to Laura's friend who no longer needs it because someone killed her. Two other people who were at the Rendezview also turn up murdered, leaving Mandy to connect the dots and find the perpetrator before Laura joins the morgue.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taking the Wrap, August 27, 2005

By 

C. Etchison "Islesgirl" (Maine) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Taking the Wrap : A Mandy Dyer Mystery (Hardcover)

Mandy is a delight and so are the characters around her. She is always getting herself in 'hot' water when she ends up trying to solve a murder. You can't help but like her as she is so human and likeable. It is a fun romp of a murder mystery. Good for a beach, plane ride or fun read.