Wash and Die (Charlotte Larue Mysteries) [Paperback]

Barbara Colley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 2008 | Series: Charlotte Larue Mysteries

As the saying goes, 'No good deed goes unpunished'. Charlotte LaRue knows she should take a broom and chase Joyce Thibodeaux off her front porch. Once married to Charlotte's tenant Louis Thibodeaux, Joyce is fresh out of detox for her alcoholism and has no place to go. She swears she's clean and sober and will find her own place in a few days. She pulls on Charlotte's heartstrings...and soon she's staying in Charlotte's guest room.Charlotte survived Hurricane Katrina, but Joyce proves to be an ill wind of a different kind. Soon a valuable gold watch left to Charlotte by her father is missing, and worse, a stranger is watching the house. Charlotte knows she has to show Joyce the door, but she never gets the chance. Instead her beloved parakeet Sweety Boy vanishes, her living room gets trashed, and Joyce ends up in the middle of the mess...stone cold dead.Now Charlotte is on the list of murder suspects along with Louis, who's been out of town on business...or has he? Finding the answers means doing a little snooping herself. Grabbing her mop she's starting with the hospital where Joyce last stayed: a place with skeletons in its closets and a bucket full of clues that just might lead to a killer...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Full of lush descriptions of the Big Easy, Colley's seventh Charlotte LaRue whodunit (after 2007's Scrub-a-Dub Dead) finds the New Orleans maid a murder suspect, along with her friend and tenant, Louis Thibodeaux. When Charlotte stumbles on the body of her guest and Louis's ex-wife, Joyce, in her ransacked house, even Charlotte's New Orleans police detective niece thinks Charlotte may be involved. Never one to take a murder rap lying down, Charlotte fights to clear her name by worming her way into the psychiatric ward where Joyce was treated for alcoholism to uncover clues about the recently released victim. Uncovering far more than she bargained for, Charlotte crosses paths with everyone from a lowlife pawn shop owner to a potentially crooked West Coast cop. Series fans will delight in this rollicking adventure. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Kensington; Reprint edition (December 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758222521
• ISBN-13: 978-0758222527
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #623,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The seventh is the best, March 30, 2008

By 

N. A. Genovese (Southeast Louisiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wash and Die (Charlotte LaRue Mystery Series, Book 7) (Hardcover)

Charlotte LaRue, owner of Maid for a Day, is a super sleuthing amateur detective who returns home from work one day and finds Joyce Thibodeaux sitting on her porch swing. Joyce is Charlotte's next door tenant Louis Thibodeaux's ex wife. Joyce is just out of rehab and asks Charlotte if she can put her up until she can find a place of her own. Charlotte acts against her better judgment and agrees to help Joyce when she's down on her luck.

Charlotte discovers that Joyce has stolen her dad's gold watch and hocked it at a pawn shop for cash to tide her over until she can get a job. Charlotte throws her out of her house and Joyce threatens to make her regret it. Charlotte comes home the next day and finds Joyce murdered on her living room floor and her pet parakeet, Sweety Boy, missing. And, of course, the police place Charlotte and Louis, who was out of town the whole time until the day of Joyce's murder, at the top of their list of suspects and even her niece, homicide detective Judith Monroe, can't help her.

Charlotte realizes that if she is ever going to be cleared of the crime, she was going to have to find the murderer herself. She sets out on a dangerous mission beginning at a pawn shop in the French Quarter and leading to the hospital psych ward where Joyce had been admitted. Things get so bad that Charlotte has to fight to save her life, which she does--twice. And all the while, she manages to welcome twin grandchildren amidst all the mystery and clue gathering. Of course she solves the crime and all the conflicts resolve nicely at the end of the story.

Wash and Die, the seventh in the series, kept me entertained the whole time I was reading it. It's a page turner and a great read. I recommend it highly.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So many questions--such good answers, February 1, 2008

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wash and Die (Charlotte LaRue Mystery Series, Book 7) (Hardcover)

The seventh Charlotte LaRue mystery, Wash and Die is set in New Orleans.

Charlotte comes home from one of her cleaning jobs to find a shadowy figure waiting on her porch-Joyce Thibodeaux, the alcoholic ex-wife of her good friend and tenant Louis Thibodeaux. They had last seen Joyce when she was hauled off to be hospitalized for her addictions, and Charlotte knows her course of treatment is not over. How did Joyce get out? Joyce has a good story, and ends up in Charlotte's guest room for a few days.

Ex-cop Louis is out of town for his private security firm business. A day earlier, Charlotte had noticed a strange man watching the house from his car, and when she confronted him, she finds out he is a police detective looking for a criminal. Could it be Joyce? Joyce seems to be the same old untrustworthy person.

Charlotte discovers that the gold watch her father left her is missing, and she had seen Joyce leaving a pawnshop in the Quarter. She finds Joyce drinking and insists she leave. Coming home the next day, she discovers the door open, her place trashed, and Joyce dead on the floor. And, Sweety Boy, her beloved parakeet is missing from his cage!

Louis is supposed to have arrived home, but no one can find him, and the police consider Charlotte and Louis "persons of interest!" Charlotte won't stand for that and begins sleuthing on her own, starting with the hospital ward where Joyce was last staying. Something odd is going on there, involving missing jewelry. One of the nurses senses Charlotte is not quite the cleaning lady she is pretending to be, and follows her to the basement and goes after her with a syringe.

Or was Joyce killed because of her work in California, with an undercover policeman?

Louis is discovered in the hospital, where he went due to chest pains. In the midst of all this chaos, her first grandchildren are born, and Charlotte is ecstatic. Will she have time to help with her grandchildren, set her house right, find her parakeet, and the killer?

Armchair Interviews says: All those questions should make anyone want to read this.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great cozy mystery, March 24, 2008

By 

Dawn Dowdle "Mystery Lovers Corner reviewer" (Lynchburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wash and Die (Charlotte LaRue Mystery Series, Book 7) (Hardcover)

Charlotte LaRue owns Maid for a Day cleaning service in New Orleans. When she returns home from a hard day of cleaning, she finds Joyce Thibodeaux waiting on her porch. Joyce begs Charlotte to let her stay with her for a few days. Joyce is a known liar and con artist and has just gotten out of rehab. Against her better judgment, Charlotte says yes. Joyce was once married to Charlotte's tenant Louis Thibodeaux.

It doesn't take long for Charlotte to regret letting Joyce stay. Joyce can't keep her room clean, lies about why a San Francisco inspector shows up looking for her, and steals Charlotte's father's gold watch and pawns it. Charlotte tries to recover her watch, but the pawn shop denies who pawned it and says it is sold.

Charlotte comes home to find her house has been trashed and Sweety Boy, her parakeet, is missing. Since Charlotte fought with Joyce and kicked her out, she is a prime suspect.

She and Louis, also a suspect, talk about the facts they each know and decide on avenues they will each pursue. When Charlotte goes sleuthing at the hospital where Joyce last stayed, she find herself in danger. If she's not careful, she might just find herself face-to-face with a murderer.

I love this series. Charlotte is a great character and New Orleans is a wonderful setting. I like the fact that Charlotte is a maid. So many times people talk in front of the maid, helping her to find answers.

This book has plenty of twists and turns to keep you turning the page. I highly recommend this book.