Amanda Flower's Maid of Murder

Amanda Flower's new India Hayes Mystery, Maid of Murder, releases this month, and you don't want to miss it. I'm such a fan of the now not-just-dead-but-beaten-to-a-pulp genre of "chick lit," but Amanda's book takes chick lit, adds a whopping dollop of cozy mystery and a dash of romance for a recipe that makes for just plain entertaining reading.

India Hayes has quirks...and they are glorious. Her day job resembles that of Amanda's (as a small college librarian), but I doubt anyone has got as wacky a family that India does (or such a busybody next door neighbor).

I liked the premise of this book so much that I requested to be a reviewer. Every female I know has had that experience of being asked to be in a wedding and being saddled with an atrocious bridesmaid dress. Yikes. It's real, relatable, and, thanks to Amanda's sense of zany humor at times, extremely amusing. Like, laugh-out-loud amusing.

As a therapist, I zeroed in on India's poor heartbroken brother, who, while innocent of the accused crime, is in need of ongoing therapy. I think every reader will probably identify with some aspects of the Mark's story. We've all loved, all lost. Some of us made it through easily and some of us had to stop for a while to steady our feet under us again. India's value of family is so heartwarming to read because she undertakes considerable risk to take care of Mark and protect him. Would that we all had family members like India.

In short, this book was fantastic. I read it in about two days, and for my busy schedule, that says something. You can read all the first chapter of Amanda's book at her website. When you're finished with that, click the following links to buy it!

Amazon

Barnes and Nobles

Borders