Review by Booklist Review
Lily Bard studies the minutiae of the people whose houses she cleans in Shakespeare, Arkansas. A horrific episode in her own past keeps her wary and private, so she is even more than normally chastened by finding the body of Deedra Dean, naked and violated, in a car in the woods. Deedra was free with herself, and nearly every male in Shakespeare had taken from her, but it's too easy to focus on her taste for male companionship in seeking her murderer, especially when rumors of videotapes and sex toys surface. Lily, meanwhile, is trying to resolve not only Deedra's death but also its resonance in her own psyche and her need, barely acknowledged but deep as water, for Jack, the man in her life. Lily is a terrific character with dark shadings and stark fears, but learning strength and cleaving to it. A supporting cast of quirky characters fully rendered in quick strokes will hold readers as surely as the complex resolution in this cozy on the bleeding edge of noir. --GraceAnne A. DeCandido
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"There's nothing more revealing about people than the mess they leave for someone else," says Lily Bard, who has the perfect job for an amateur sleuthÄshe's a cleaning lady in the small, close-knit town of Shakespeare, Ark. A detached and wary observer of others, Lily reluctantly finds herself investigating the murder of one of her employers, Deedra Dean, in her latest engaging outing (after 1998's Shakespeare's Christmas). It's Lily's misfortune to discover Deedra's violated body in her car on a deserted road, the apparent victim of a tryst gone sour. For Lily, who already knows more than she wants about the promiscuous young woman's habits, the details don't add up. Since many of her other clients are related to Deedra, Lily endures their catty, sometimes malicious gossip, but when she helps Deedra's mother clean out the dead woman's apartment, she quietly disposes of Deedra's collection of compromising photos and videos. The nature of the crime forces Lily to deal with her own scars, legacies of the brutal abduction and rape in Memphis that sent her scrambling for the tranquil environs of Shakespeare. A wise, self-counseled soul, as well as a skilled karate student and fitness buff, Lily is just foolhardy enough to charge into a burning house to save a frail, mean old man. Indeed, Lily has such an engaging voice, full of pain and redemption, that the collecting of clues and the unfolding of the crime take a back seat to her personal story. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Series lead Lily Bard, a karate-kicking cleaning lady, discovers the body of a promiscuous woman in a lonely area of Shakespeare, AR. When the police develop no leads, Lily steps in. Solid entertainment. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Another visit to Shakespeare, Arkansas, where housecleaner Lily Bard (Shakespeare's Christmas, 1998, etc.) takes comfort in her karate classes and in her lover, p.i. Jack Leeds, and tries never to think of the vicious attack that long ago left her scarred in body and soul. Her latest distraction is Deedra Dean, the promiscuous local girl who lives in the neighboring apartment house owned by fellow karate student Becca Whitley. But Deedra soon becomes a more weighty concern. Driving one day to her job, Lily, spotting a metallic red flash in the woods, finds Deedra's car, its owner naked and dead in the front seat--clothes and jewelry strewn on the ground--killed, according to the autopsy, by a massive blow. Sheriff Marta Schuster takes charge of the case, even though it's common knowledge that her brother Marlon was even more attached to Deedra than most of her swains. Meanwhile, Lily, ever alert, spots an intruder and a fire at the cottage of nasty old Joe C. Prader, another of Deedra's clients. She manages to save him, to his heirs' likely chagrin. When Deedra's mother Lacey seeks Lily's help in cleaning out her daughter's apartment, it's there, in a most unlikely missing object, that Lily discovers the motive for Deedra's killing and barely escapes with her life. Plot lines and suspense get lost in a glut of minor characters, aimless chitchat, and a bit too much soul-searching. A neat surprise ending will reward Lily's ardent fans without winning new ones. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
