Book Review
Scheduled To Death by Mary Feliz
Book 2: A Maggie McDonald Mystery Series
Publisher: Lyrical Underground / Penguin Random House Publisher Service
Publication Date: January 17, 2017
Format: Paperback - 236 pages
Kindle - 1035 KB
Nook - 800 KB
ISBN: 978-1601836663
ASIN: B01EQ2N1QM
BNID: 978-1601836656
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Buy The Book:
Buy The Series: A Maggie McDonald Mystery Series
Book 1: Address To Die For
Book 2: Scheduled To Death
Book 3: Dead Storage (Pub Date: July 18, 2017)
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.
Book Description:
Maggie McDonald is hoping to raise the profile of her new Orchard View organizing business via her first high-profile client. Professor Lincoln Sinclair may be up for a Nobel Prize, but he’s hopeless when it comes to organizing anything other than his thoughts. For an academic, he’s also amassed more than his share of enemies. When Sinclair’s fiancée is found dead on the floor of his home laboratory—electrocuted in a puddle of water—Maggie takes on the added task of finding the woman’s murderer. To do so, she’ll have to outmaneuver the suspicious, obnoxious police investigator she’s nicknamed “Detective Awful” before a shadowy figure can check off the first item on their personal to-do list—Kill Maggie McDonald.
Book Excerpt:
“Hi, Linc,” I said. “Are you settling in at the lab?
Dodging reporters?”
He didn’t answer immediately and I grew alarmed.
“What’s wrong? Are you there?” As I said the words, I felt sheepish. I’d
overreacted. It was probably just a bad connection with a long delay.
“I’m fine, Maggie. I’ve had a little trouble with my
bicycle, I’m afraid. I took a tumble and Newton's hurt. I’m reluctant to ask
for another favor, but would you be willing to pick us up at the house and take
us back to campus? My vet isn’t far from here, but I don’t think Newton will be
comfortable walking.”
“I’ll be
right there,” I said, knowing from experience with the kids that it was more
important for me to arrive quickly in a crisis than it was to have answers to
all my immediate questions.
“Don’t hang up, Maggie. Are you still there?”
“Still here,” I said as I scrambled for my keys and
my backpack.
“Do you have an old sheet or a beach towel we can
put on the seat for Newt? I don’t want him to stain your car.”
“I’ll find something.” I hung up the phone and tore
down the basement steps to the laundry room. I’d cleared out our oldest and
most worn sheets before we’d moved, not thinking that moving often requires
painting, and painting requires tarps and cleaning rags. But the kids had
changed their beds over the weekend, and I’d thrown the clean ones in the dryer
this morning. I reached in and grabbed an armful of red and blue plaid cotton
and raced back up the stairs. I wasn’t too worried about my car’s upholstery—I
knew a million ways to remove bloodstains.
Fresh, clean sheets would be better than old rags or
towels at sopping up blood without introducing foreign material into Newton’s
wounds. I tried not to worry as I drove as carefully as I could, repeating a
police driving-course mantra that Jason Mueller had once told my boys: “Slow is
smooth. Smooth is fast.” The phrase had
originated in the armed services, he'd told them, and referred to aiming and
shooting a firearm. But it applied equally well to driving.
What he didn’t say was
that slow is also really difficult.
My Book Review:
In Scheduled To Death, the second book in the Maggie McDonald Mystery series, author Mary Feliz weaves an intriguing cozy mystery tale that easily draws the reader into following the trials and tribulations of professional organizer Maggie McDonald's latest amateur sleuth adventures. Maggie has been hired by Stanford Professor Lincoln Sinclair to organize his old Victorian home that he is selling, and when she walks through the house, she finds his fiancee, school librarian Sarah Palmer, dead on the floor of his home laboratory.
Rich in detail and vivid descriptions, the story takes place in the small town of Orchard View, California, in the hills above Silicon Valley. This captivating and fast-paced whodunit tale has enough quirky characters, witty humor, drama, a growing list of suspects, intriguing twists and turns, and conspiracy theories that will keep you guessing.
This entertaining cozy mystery tale will keep you engaged as you turn the pages following along with Maggie's latest investigative adventure. You can't help but get caught up in the drama and calamity that ensues as she tries to solve the murder while trying to get her fledgling business Simply Itself Organizing Services started. Maggie's story unfolds with a wonderful balance of comedy, drama, suspense, and intriguing twists and turns that easily kept me guessing, and left me wanting more.
Scheduled To Death is an entertaining cozy murder mystery that will engage you to join in the crazy adventures and trials and tribulations that occur, while providing you with an intriguing mystery to solve.
RATING: 4 STARS
About The Author
Mary Feliz has lived in five states and two countries but calls Silicon Valley home. Traveling to other areas of the United States, she’s frequently reminded that what seems normal in the high-tech heartland can seem decidedly odd to the rest of the country. A big fan of irony, serendipity, diversity, and quirky intelligence tempered with gentle humor, Mary strives to bring these elements into her writing, although her characters tend to take these elements to a whole new level. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and National Association of Professional Organizers. Mary is a Smith College graduate with a degree in Sociology. She lives in Northern California with her husband, near the homes of their two adult offspring.
Author Website
Amazon Author Page
Goodreads
Contest Giveaway
On February 10, the author will be giving away five ebook editions of both books to randomly selected names on a newsletter list.
Sign up for the newsletter - http://www.maryfeliz.com/newsletter/
Virtual Book Tour
Tour Schedule:
January 17 – Book Babble – REVIEW
January 18 – View from the Birdhouse – SPOTLIGHT
January 19 – Sleuth Cafe – REVIEW, EXCERPT
January 19 – Books,Dreams,Life – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
January 20 – Classy Cheapskate – REVIEW
January 21 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW
January 22 – Island Confidential – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
January 23 – Queen of All She Reads – REVIEW
January 23 – Jersey Girl Book Reviews – REVIEW
January 24 – The Power of Words – REVIEW
January 25 – Girl with Book Lungs – REVIEW
January 25 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – INTERVIEW
January 26 – A Holland Reads – GUEST POST
January 27 – Bibliophile Reviews – REVIEW
January 28 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
January 29 – Lori’s Reading Corner – SPOTLIGHT
January 30 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW
January 30 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
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