The Cluttered Corpse by Mary Jane Maffini

Interestingly enough all of the cosy mysteries that I love have been written by women. It's amazing how far we have come. I was just thinking, Mary Anne Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880) published her work under the pen name George Elliott because she felt that her work would be taken more seriously if people thought it was written by a man. This was the case in the mid 1800's in Britain. 

160 years later I'm not only finding good books written by women but books written by Canadian women. Two of my favourite Canadian authors live in the same city I grew up in, Ottawa, Ontario. 

Mary Jane Maffini has 3 mystery series. This is the second book in the Charlotte Adams series. Again I ordered the 3rd before finishing the second because I enjoyed it so much. 

For this series Mary Jane has used the fictional town of Woodbridge, New York. Charlotte Adams is a professional organizer who has returned to her hometown to live where she still has ongoing friendships with friends from high school, some quite interesting to say the least. 

In this book Charlotte is hired to help a woman organize her stuffed animal collection which has gotten beyond out of control. The second time she goes to meet with her she finds her in the middle of the street crying out "I murdered him!" A teenager who had been playing tricks on her was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in her house. It could easily have been an accident as the stuffed toys had not only taken over 3 upstairs rooms but the stairs as well. He could have easily tripped. 

But we all know that if someone confesses to murder right at the beginning of a book that that's not whodunit. 

I've seen comments complaining that it's not realistic for someone to get involved with the problems of someone she's only met once. My feeling is that this is fiction and I don't care if she's never met the alleged killer. It's the mystery of the story that intrigues me. We are given clues throughout the book. There are various scenarios presented that could be the possible answer. In the end the answer is very unexpected. 

I love how a book climaxes at the end like that and you can't put it down. It's like having tree sap on your fingers and the book just won't let go. 

I highly recommend Mary Jane Maffini's books.