Review of Metaphor For Murder

Synopsis:

An author’s mysterious disappearance. A pugnacious hired gun holding a pug for ransom. Charlee must find them both before the deadline expires.

Charlee Russo’s career and bank account will be DOA unless her literary event with bestselling author Rodolfo Lapaglia succeeds. It’s her very last chance to revise her life. But when she goes to fetch him from the train station, he has disappeared, much like Charlee’s royalty statements.

An angry mob wants their refund from the cancelled event, but Lapaglia kept the money and stuck Charlee with the bills. As she searches for him and his checkbook, her neighbor’s pug, Peter O’Drool, is dognapped with an ominous demand that Charlee deliver Lapaglia if she ever wants to see the beloved pooch again. Can Charlee solve the mystery of Lapaglia’s disappearance and close the book on this fiasco before Peter O’Drool runs out of time?

Review:

Charlee finds herself in a sticky situation when the author that she is meeting for a literary event never shows up.  People have paid good money for the workshop and they are not very happy with Charlee.  And Charlee is not happy with the author because she is out a lot of money.  When it becomes clear that he has disappeared, she decides she has to figure out what happened to him so she can get reimbursed.  And when someone else that has been looking for fim kidnaps a neighbor’s dog, the stakes become even higher.  

The characters are well rounded and well developed.  Charlee is smart and determined and she does not give up easily.  Ozzi, her boyfriend, is rather quiet and seems to go along with whatever Charlee wants.  Don and his wife, Barb, are Charlee’s neighbors and Pete’s owners.  And Pete, the pug, stole the show for cuteness.  

The writing style flows smoothly and the book is an easy read.  The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and these descriptions pulled me into the story from the very beginning.  The author added some very funny situations that Charlee found herself in and that kept it lighthearted.  The mystery was well plotted and there were enough clues to sift through and suspects to consider and it was not easily solved.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted cozy mystery.  I cannot wait to see whatever trouble Charlee gets into next.