Death Loves a Messy Desk by Mary Jane Maffini

Oh my gosh! I came onto my site to do my review and the author herself left a comment on my last post! Okay, I know authors are just people like everyone else not royalty or something but I find it exciting that she'd be nice enough to leave a comment on my blog. 

Death Loves a Messy Desk was every bit as good as The Cluttered Corpse. I don't know how authors do it but some are just able to make their characters so likeable that I just want more and more stories about them just so you can spend time with them. Throughout this book Charlotte is also trying to train her two dachshunds, Sweet Marie and Truffle, so that they can become therapy dogs visiting nursing homes and hospitals. Her training sessions are really interesting to read about.  

In this book Charlotte Adams is hired to help with a desk in an office that is out of control. On her initial visit she comes close to a head on collision in the driveway of the office building when a driver is speeding in the wrong direction directly towards her.  She finds the woman in the SUV is the owner of the desk that needs tidying up. She's told her services aren't needed, but that evening on the news she sees the woman who was driving the SUV in a news story about a man found dead in the trunk of his car. She's sure it must be the missing desk owner. 

Of course now Charlotte can't help herself, she just has to find this woman. The book is a series of her being welcome in this office and being forbidden to come near the building. Her friend the Police Detective Pepper knows something, she can tell by the look on her face. But the only way Charlotte can find anything out is  by snooping. No one will give her information. 

The book takes twists and turns and there is one amazing car/truck race through a suburban neighbourhood with a surprising ending. 

I never would have figured out the answer. I love the way we are fed bits of information that lead us to conclusions and just when we think we have it we are given another clue that contradicts our assumptions. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book too and stayed up way to late at night reading. Unfortunately the 4th book in the series hasn't been written yet. I hope there is a 4th book.