Terror on Tuesday (Lois Meade Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Ann Purser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003 | Series: Lois Meade Mysteries

Lois Meade is back! Feisty Lois, part cleaner, part amateur sleuth, is once more involved in solving murder - and this time, not one but two murders most mysterious. Once more her job is tailor-made for snooping, taking her into the houses and secrets of possible suspects. Lois has now moved to the village of Long Farnden (familiar to readers of Murder on Monday), and is setting up her own cleaning business, New Brooms, with a staff of four and a growing list of clients. Lois's love/hate relationship with Detective Inspector Hunter Cowgill is renewed when she comes upon a weird demise with theatrical connections. She can hardly refuse to help Cowgill, and is drawn in, not entirely unwillingly. In the end...well, it's worth waiting for! Suffice to say that there is terror, addiction, perversion and sadness. Just like life, really.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Lois Meade, husband Derek, and their three children have moved into a fine new house in the village of Long Farnden, and Lois has launched her own domestic-cleaning business, "New Brooms." Then one afternoon, when Lois stops to seek a minute of solitude at a small, infrequently used chapel, she discovers a murdered body secreted in a suit of armor. When her old friend Inspector Cowgill asks her to help find the killer, Lois is both flattered and annoyed. She loves her career as an amateur sleuth, launched in the first book of the series, Murder on Monday [BKL S 15 02], but her cleaning service leaves little time for tracking criminals, and Derek is dead set against Lois putting herself in danger. But when her best friend's husband is brutally murdered, and Derek is nearly killed in a hit-and-run accident, Lois has no choice. Like its erstwhile heroine, this no-nonsense mystery is competent, tidy, likable, and clever. Emily Melton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"The honest, down-to-earth Lois [is] certain to appeal."—Publishers Weekly

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727859560
• ISBN-13: 978-0727859563
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,907,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Started out good but the ending lacked something, April 16, 2005

By 

M. C. Crammer (Decatur, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Terror on Tuesday (Lois Meade Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the second book of a "day of the week" English cozy mystery series, and I had read the "Monday" book. I thought then that the author showed promise but the book didn't quite deliver, and I have the same feeling about this book. It's actually about a 3 1/2 star book but Amazon doesn't offer that option.

There are so many intriguing things going on early in the book -- including a body found in a suit of armor -- and lots of interesting and memorable characters (not one of those books where you have to take notes to keep track of who is who because the characters are so flat). No, the characterization is good. But somehow the ending fell flat.

The "detective" is working class Lois, married to Derek, with three school-aged children and living in a village in England. She had begun cleaning houses in book 1, and in this book, she's decided to start a cleaning business. In the course of cleaning, she stumbles upon a corpse, and Cowgill, the somewhat mysterious police detective with whom she has a Watergate-Deep Throat sort of relationship (they meet in secret from time to time), asks her to poke around in the course of her work and see what she can find out.

One of the cleaners she's hired makes her a bit nervous, but it's not clear if her fears are justified. Then there's a friend of hers who is being abused by her husband -- and a teenage girl who is mysteriously hospitalized, and her family won't talk about it. How does it all connect? And is something odd going on at the local amateur theater? A second person is found murdered, and Lois fears for her family.

This is a readable book -- and I'll read more in the series -- but I just felt it wasn't a four star book, let alone a five. I hope these books get better as the author gets more experience. As I said, this author definitely shows promise.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Terror on Tuesday", September 28, 2005

By 

J. W. Wilson "cozy fan" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Terror on Tuesday (Lois Meade Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

This 2nd book in the British village cleaner series lives up to the promise of the first. I enjoy series mysteries as much for the growth and changes in the characters as for the whodunnit aspects, and this series does not disappoint. Looking forward to finishing out the week with Lois and her merry bunch.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very British Cozy Mystery, February 8, 2008

By 

Andrea "Readaholic" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Terror on Tuesday (Lois Meade Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

This cozy mystery takes place in England. I love the English atmosphere, the pub and all the other British things, the British words and phrases, the teas.

This is a Lois Meade mystery; Lois Meade is the supervisor of a cleaning company that she started. Of course, body or bodies are found, but they are found in the most interesting places and ways. I will not say more, as to not ruin it for those who have not read the book. I will just say that the author was very in clever in that respect.

This is a very clever and interesting mystery. I especially loved the character of Hazel; she seemed to be a very strong and smart, even though young, person. Character development was superb.

I loved this mystery. It is the 2nd Lois Meade mystery. ("Murder on Monday" is the first, and I have a superb, flawless review for that book, also.) There is a mystery for every day of the week, and I look forward to reading the remaining days of the week.