Scheduled to Death (A Maggie McDonald Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Lyrical Underground (January 17, 2017)
Paperback: 236 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1601836663
Digital Ebook – ASIN: B01EQ2N1QM

Synopsis

Professional organizer Maggie McDonald has a knack for cleaning up other people’s messes. So when the fiancée of her latest client turns up dead, it’s up to her to sort through the untidy list of suspects and identify the real killer.

Maggie McDonald is hoping to raise the profile of her new Orchard View organizing business via her first high-profile client. Professor Lincoln Sinclair may be up for a Nobel Prize, but he’s hopeless when it comes to organizing anything other than his thoughts. For an academic, he’s also amassed more than his share of enemies. When Sinclair’s fiancée is found dead on the floor of his home laboratory—electrocuted in a puddle of water—Maggie takes on the added task of finding the woman’s murderer. To do so, she’ll have to outmaneuver the suspicious, obnoxious police investigator she’s nicknamed “Detective Awful” before a shadowy figure can check off the first item on their personal to-do list—Kill Maggie McDonald.

Review

This is the second in a series about a home organizer, Maggie, in a small town in CA. She manages to stumble across murders and gets caught up in solving the crime.

I love all the tips at the beginning of each chapter on organization, some are very useful and I need to put a few of them into practice.

I love the cast of characters and they all play a significant role in progressing the story line. There is a new character in this book (pretty sure this book only), a incompetent police detective named George Apsel. They have given him a most appropriate nickname of detective awful because he is truly awful and does not care about solving the crime. Heck, he can’t even get Maggie’s name right. He is filling in for Jason (another police detective) that broke his leg and is laid up…but we still get to see him some in this book.

The mystery itself was not easy to figure out…I think I suspected the killer just because he seemed suspicious but there was not anything I could put my finger on. The reason for the killings was a bit surprising to me, but it made some sense if you understand where the killer was coming from (not that it is justifiable!).

Outside of the main story line there was a minor line about a couple of homeless young women. I liked how Maggie and a few others gained their trust and helped them out. There were some surprises regarding these two women that just made it more intriguing and interesting.

I really enjoy this series and can’t wait to read more.  We give it 5 paws up.

About the Author

Mary Feliz has lived in five states and two countries but calls Silicon Valley home. Traveling to other areas of the United States, she’s frequently reminded that what seems normal in the high-tech heartland can seem decidedly odd to the rest of the country. A big fan of irony, serendipity, diversity, and quirky intelligence tempered with gentle humor, Mary strives to bring these elements into her writing, although her characters tend to take these elements to a whole new level. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and National Association of Professional Organizers. Mary is a Smith College graduate with a degree in Sociology. She lives in Northern California with her husband, near the homes of their two adult offspring.

Website * Twitter

Giveaway

On February 10, the author will be giving away five ebook editions of both books to randomly selected names on her newsletter list. Sign up here to win!

check out the other blogs on the tour

January 17 – Book Babble – REVIEW

January 18 – View from the Birdhouse – SPOTLIGHT

January 19 – Sleuth Cafe – REVIEW, EXCERPT

January 19 – Books,Dreams,Life – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT

January 20 – Classy Cheapskate – REVIEW

January 21 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW

January 22 – Island Confidential – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT

January 23 – Jersey Girl Book Reviews – REVIEW

January 24 – The Power of Words – REVIEW

January 25 – Queen of All She Reads – REVIEW

January 25 – Girl with Book Lungs – REVIEW

January 25 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – INTERVIEW

January 26 – A Holland Reads – GUEST POST

January 27 – Bibliophile Reviews – REVIEW

January 28 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

January 29 – Lori’s Reading Corner – SPOTLIGHT

January 30 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW

January 30 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT