Death of a Domestic Diva: A Toadfern Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

by Sharon Short (Author) "Time moves differently in a laundromat..." (more)
Key Phrases: seasonal mulch, stain expert, spare apartment, Tyra Grimes, Chief Worthy, Josie Toadfern (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...a cast of characters that will have the reader laughing... This reviewer eagerly awaits another trip to Paradise." -- Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine (Web Site Reviews)

"...with this first book... Short has distinguished herself from the cozy ranks with sheer imagination." -- The Mystery Reader

"The plot is tight, the writing is clear and colorful and every character is richly drawn." -- Wilmington News Journal, Books Page, Mary Thomas Watts, December 23, 2003

"This wildly funny first novel is a welcome addition to the cozy family... " -- Books-n-Bytes

DEATH OF A DOMESTIC DIVA is an immaculate conception, and more importantly, good clean fun! -- Mary Kay Andrews

Review
"...as cozy as it is cunning with cleaning tips galore and a simply wonderful domestic goddess on the scene." (Mystery Scene )

"Sharon Short's Josie Toadfern is wonderfully quirky." (Jill Churchill )

"DEATH OF A DOMESTIC DIVA is an immaculate conception, and more importantly, good clean fun!" (Mary Kay Andrews )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Avon (July 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060537957
• ISBN-13: 978-0060537951
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #244,211 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 1 in The Stain-Busting Mystery Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to mystery's first laundromat-owning sleuth!!, September 28, 2003

By	jadedromantic "jadedromantic" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

While waiting for Lemony Snicket's newest, I picked this up to read after coming upon it accidentally - I like to try "first in series" mysteries if I can, so that if I like them I can keep up from the beginning.

Josie Toadfern lives in maybe the most rural Ohio town I've ever read about, Paradise. The book opens with several of Paradise's most prominent citizens scared stiff that Paradise has been left off the newest edition of the Ohio state map! The city's already low tourist-based cash crop is in peril, but how to get the city (literally) back on the map? Easy, says Josie, owner of Toadfern's Laundromat ("always a leap ahead of dirt!") and the best stain-removal expert in the midwest -- she'll just write to Tyra Grimes, who is a super-famous homemaking/decorating expert (a la Martha Stewart) with her own show, and tell Tyra she (Josie) should be on "The Tyra Grimes Home Show" to share her stain-fighting expertise with the world.

This idea comes with mostly-enthusiastic backing from other Paradisites -- with one of the most adamant exceptions being the local funeral parlor owner, Lewis Rothchild, who warns Josie that, if she gets Tyra to come to Paradise, "blood will flow." Josie receives a few other nay-sayers' advice, but writes the letter anyway ...

Sure enough, Tyra shows up in Paradise . . . and within 48 hours Josie stumbles upon a couple of bodies lying in a mushroom patch -- one unconscious, the other with a bullet hole in the chest.

This first novel started off slow for me, but actually turned into a really decent mystery. The solution is more complicated than at first you would assume, and for such a small town there are plenty of suspects around to make you try and figure out whodunnit. Josie turns into a very likeable heroine, and I will read more in the series . . . though there are a couple of problems.

One, Short is a good writer, the book got better and better as it went along, but all the foreshadowing she does got a little on my nerves (the "If I had known then what I know now"-type of letting the reader know something big is going to happen gets old fast); also, am a bit concerned with how this small town full of eccentrics might not grow stale in future installments; I mean, how many murders can this little place go through, if the town is so small there's only one laundromat, one funeral parlor, etc?

But those are nit-picky criticisms, in a way. Short, a stain expert herself, shares some of those insights in the book, and with a likeable cast of characters, vivid writing, and the (toward the end, anyway) cliffhanger chapter endings, I do really look forward to Josie's next adventure...

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So-So Start, November 22, 2003

By A Customer

The book picked up steam as it went along, however, the ending was so convoluted with so many things happening and so many twists and turns that it was a bit hard to digest it all.

I realize the author was going for humor in the first installment of what seems like a series, but she took it just a bit too far. Lime Jell-O mold on the head might be somewhat amusing, but added to a high-speed bookmobile chase, head-shaving and an old teacher in pink leather, it started to cross the line into silly and even ridiculous.

The most annoying thing was the constant use of "my laundromat." We know it's hers...we didn't need to be reminded of it in every sentence.

I'll read the next installment, but there's definitely much room for improvement as the series moves along. I just wonder how far it can move with such a limited character/setting base.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Introducing Sleuth Stain Expert Josie Toadfern, August 2, 2004

By	Dawn Dowdle "mysteryloverscorner.com reviewer" (Lynchburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Josie Toadfern owns the town Laundromat. She is also a stain expert. Their town, Paradise, Ohio, has always been on the map. But, when the new map arrives, it is no longer there. To try to get them back on the map, Josie writes a letter to Tyra Grimes asking to be on her TV show. Josie is quite surprised when Tyra shows up in town to tape a segment without even answering her letter.

Then Josie starts hearing rumors about Tyra that sound immoral if not illegal. She begins to do some research. Her cousin Billy appears to be getting in deep with Tyra's associates. As Josie tries to uncover the truth, the funeral director is town is murdered. Elroy is arrested. Josie can't believe the Elroy killed him. She keeps digging trying to find the truth.

She ends up getting herself in deeper and deeper but can't seem to figure out how all the pieces fit together.

This was the first book I've read in this series. It is an easy read, and I will continue to read others in this series. I must say that they won't be books that I'd rush out to get. I enjoyed this book, but found myself having trouble getting through it quickly. I can't put my finger on why. Josie is a likeable character. The other townspeople are all good characters. I think the writing is good. It is definitely a cozy mystery. I just felt that at times I got bogged down in some of the superfluous information.

I recommend this book.