Labels

Saturday, June 10, 2017

 
 
Trouble Purse Sued (St. Polycarp Mystery Book 4)
 
From goodreads.com: 
 
After an unfortunate turn of events at St. Polycarp, Mrs. Johnson has been appointed as the interim principal of the school. At first the thought of being the principal was exciting, but the reality of dealing with a budget that didn't begin to cover the school's expenses, demanding parents, a clique of disrespectful teachers and recalcitrant students had wrung every bit of patience and good humor from her psyche.

The prospect that her role might become permanent deeped her anxiety but then she learned that she might end up with no job at all. Apparently the archdiocese was deciding whether to close St. Polycarp for good. It seemed that fund-raising was going to be critical—thousands of dollars—and she didn't think that the children's sales of chocolate bars was going to keep St. Polycarp's doors open.

That's why when Mrs. Hopwood, her best friend and sleuthing partner in solving a series of unfortunate—murderous events—offers to donate some vintage clothing and accessories she recently inherited from her aunt Eunice to raise money for the school, Mrs. Johnson agrees.

The catch—a fashion show with students as the models—flyers, catalogues, online bids—another grand scheme hatched by Mrs. Hopwood that only gives Mrs. Johnson a bigger migraine and in true St. Polycarp fashion spurs a series of unfortunate events.
 
Leona's Review:
 
This is my first read by Marianna Heusler. I received a complimentary copy from the author to read and review.
 
It took me awhile  to get into the book with so many characters and problems. This is a dark cozy mystery.
The main characters are two who work at St. Polycarp Catholic School, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Hopwood. There is Tracy, a lady who fell on bad times after her husband is murdered. We have the student, Melissa Ortiz, whose father is about to be released from prison for a murder he said he did not commit. Other characters make a long line-up.
The school is falling on hard times and will close unless they can raise some money. Mrs. Hopwood's aunt died and as Mrs. Hopwood was cleaning out the attic, she found some vintage clothes. They decided to hold a sale and fashion show to raise the money.
There are a number of murders and lots of mystery; I will say that the end surprised me.
Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Hopwood got irritated with each other quite a bit and I finally told myself to think of them as sisters who argue but still are the best of friends. Also the title was not very clear to me, so when I repeated it three times, it made sense to me.
I want to give it a 3.75 star. Not quite a 4 star but certainly not a 3 star. The opinions are my own.
I will read the other books in the series even though this was a stand alone read.
 
Find Marianna Heusler at:
Her fashion blog is mariannaheusler.typepad.com
She is a goodreads.com author.
Marianna has also written for Woman's World Magazine.
 
Leona Olson
 
 

No comments: