Scrub-a-dub Dead

by Barbara Colley

Book Overview

Charlotte is cleaning rooms at the New Orleans Jazzy hotel, a historical Garden District mansion. The hotel is serving as a home-away-from-home for Shreveport's chapter of the Red Scarf Sorority, a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0758207670
• ISBN13: 9780758207678
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp
• Length: 287 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.8" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

Fantastic Cozy Mystery

Charlotte LaRue, owner of Maid for A Day for households in the exclusive and historic Garden District of New Orleans, is working a two week work assignment at the Jazzy Hotel on St. Charles Avenue to payback a favor she owes to Carrie Rogers, owner of a commercial cleaning service, who found herself short handed. Carrie Rogers had generously offered Charlotte and her family the use of her country home near Minden Louisiana for three weeks for Katrina evacuation. Scrub-a-Dub Dead finds Charlotte LaRue involved in a murder at the Jazzy Hotel of one of its guests--a guest who just happens to be the trophy fiancé of Frank Morgan, owner of a CPA firm. The CPA's wife, Tessa Morgan, is just learning of the affair and is also a guest at the hotel. The suspects begin to mount but the police arrest Tessa Morgan for the murder because she has the most obvious motive and also because the strangled victim had a red scarf around her neck which was apparently the method of murder. Tessa Morgan is a member of the Red Scarf Society and had many of those red scarves in her hotel room. Also, one of Tessa's ear rings was found at the murder scene. Of course, Charlotte doesn't believe that Tessa is the murderer and is on the trail of who really killed Frank's fiancé. The sixth in the series is by far the best of all the Charlotte LaRue books. It is chocked full of cliff hangers that kept me from putting the book down. Also, the subplot involving Louis Thibodaux, retired New Orleans Police Department Homicide Detective, who is also Charlotte's tenant in the other half of the double in which she lives, resulted in a surprising development. I didn't see it coming and when it happened, I was surprised. The twists and turns kept me turning the pages and I didn't see the real killer until it was revealed by the plot at the end of the book. The Charlotte LaRue mystery books just keep getting better and better. I can't wait for the next in the series.

Great cozy mystery set in New Orleans

Charlotte LaRue owns her own maid service in New Orleans, working in the garden district. She decided to keep her service domestic, but her friend Carrie Rogers was short staffed, and Charlotte had agreed to help clean The Jazzy Hotel for two weeks. Carrie had let Charlotte and her family flee to her country home during Hurricane Katrina. She owed Carried. Soon Charlotte finds herself in the middle of an affluent family with a lot of controversy while cleaning the hotel. Plus she runs into an old beau, Mack Sutton, as well. When Mack's soon to be ex-son-in-law's new fiancé Lisa is murdered, Charlotte ends up in the middle of the investigation. The more she tries to stay out of things, the more she gets involved. Since Mack's family is at the center of things, she's concerned how close she should get. As she gets closer to the killer, secrets begin to emerge. Can she solve the murder without finding herself as the next target? I love Charlotte. I wish she'd come clean my house! I enjoyed this book set in a hotel. It gave lots of new characters for the story. The author did a great job of creating a web of intrigue in the middle of the murder. There were plenty of twists and turns as she eliminated suspects. I highly recommend this book and series.

Reviewed by Sabrina Williams

Barbara Colley revisits the world of Charlotte LaRue in her sixth release of the series, Scrub-a-Dub Dead. LaRue, who owns her own housekeeping business in New Orleans, enjoys her quiet, average existence. But somehow, she always manages to place herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Scrub-a-Dub Dead is no exception. Charlotte finds herself entangled in the lives of an affluent family with as much controversy as they can stir up. As the brood darts in and out of the historical Garden District hotel where Charlotte is working, she can't help but overhear their heated arguments and family secrets. When a ghost from the past, Mack Sutton, presents himself as a member of the clan, she becomes a bit smitten once again and the two begin getting reacquainted. When Lisa, the fiance of Mack's ex-son-in-law, is murdered in the hotel, everyone appears to have a motive. Charlotte goes about her business, cleaning rooms, but her mind wanders and she pieces the crime together to find a suspect. The more she investigates, the more shocking the case becomes, and secrets continue to emerge. Is Charlotte safe with her old flame? Or could he be the killer? Tidbits of previous Charlotte LaRue adventures surface periodically throughout the novel, introducing new readers to the background of the series. On the surface, there appears to be nothing remarkable about Charlotte, but as we become silent observers of the soon-to-be grandmother, we find that even the most ordinary citizen can contribute in extraordinary ways. Charlotte does everything in her power to avoid meddling in the affairs of her clients, but luck brings her time and time again into the middle of their crises. Colley expertly keeps the reader glued to the pages with strategically placed cliffhangers. She makes a serious crime into a light, fun read. Charlotte LaRue is as easy for the reader to relate to as she is to the characters in the book. One Charlotte LaRue book will be all it takes to get hooked on the series. The storyline being related to current events such as Hurricane Katrina makes it easy to sympathize with the characters. Fans of cozy mysteries will enjoy the antics of Ms. Charlotte LaRue.

Jessica Fletcher-like heroine

Charlotte LaRue returns in her sixth mystery in the Maid-for-a-Day series that is set in New Orleans. In Scrub-a-Dub Dead, Charlotte has agreed to help a friend by cleaning rooms at the Jazzy Hotel. The Red Scarf Sorority (socially elite women in their forties) is staying at this historic Garden District mansion. Charlotte is tidying up the room of Tessa Morgan when Tessa returns to her room. Tessa is very upset and threatens to have Charlotte fired, claiming that Charlotte ignored the Do-Not-Disturb sign. Tessa's Red Scarf sisters comfort her, and we learn that Tessa is upset because her estranged husband's mistress (Lisa) has announced their engagement. To cheer Tessa up, some of the women joke that Lisa needs to disappear permanently. Charlotte leaves the room and bumps into an old friend who is also Tessa's stepfather. The next day, Charlotte learns that Lisa has been murdered, and Tessa is the prime suspect. Lisa was strangled to death by a red scarf, similar to the ones in Tessa's room. While Tessa may have a motive, Charlotte believes that the real killer is still on the loose. Lisa has made a lot of enemies and everyone seems to be hiding something. Charlotte is very likeable, she reminds me of Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote. She's a nice lady who struggles with minding her own business and doing the right thing. Charlotte is a big fan of mysteries and crime dramas. She has learned how to carefully and methodically collect clues to piece together the evidence. Her family and friends are torn between being proud of Charlotte's amateur detective skills and worrying for her safety. I read this when we had a NO power for three days caused by a winter storm in the Northwest. This was a great way to spend the time since the book really engages the reader and the story keeps moving forward. I was able to guess some things, but there are enough twists to give it a surprise ending. Armchair Interviews says: A great read.

fine whodunitm but the star is post Katrina and Rita New Orleans

In New Orleans the members of the Red Scarf Sorority are staying at the Garden District's Jazzy Hotel where the club's president Tessa Morgan is being pressured by her husband Frank to sign the divorce papers. Frank plans to marry his much younger lover Lisa as soon as Tessa puts her John Hancock on the legal document ending their marriage. However, so far Tessa refuses though Frank has sent emissaries like their daughter Belinda and his secretary Margaret Green. Not long after Frank's latest failed attempt to disband their marriage, Lisa, who is also at the Jazzy, is found dead with a red scarf wrapped around her neck. New Orleans Homicide Detectives Gavin Brown and Judith Monroe assume Tessa committed the crime as she had motive, means and opportunity. However, Judith's Aunt Charlotte LaRue, owner of Maid-for-a Day domestic cleaning service thinks otherwise as this seems too simplistic. The housekeeper, who happens to be working the Jazzy as a favor to a friend Carrie Rogers who works there, uncovers other suspects such as Lisa's stalking former boyfriend to the chagrin of her loving niece. The whodunit takes a back seat to the cleansing antics of the heroine and the vivid descriptions of post Katrina and Rita New Orleans. Charlotte is at her best whether she is cleaning, encountering a former beau turned suspect, or just sleuthing. Though the mystery is fun but light, series fans will appreciate the heroine's latest escapades as she scrubs for clues not accepting that the president of the Red Scarf Sorority would commit such a dumb crime even in passion without at least cleaning the crime scene Harriet Klausner