This mystery on the light side isn't pure fluff. There's substance here. Crafted with a sure comic hand, this book is enlivened with dimensional characters, and touches lightly but firmly on serious issues including racism, snobbery, rabid ambition and greed. In case anybody forgot, we can find real life, real art, real talent, real money - and real intrigue - in America's heartland, not just on the right or left coasts.

Protagonist Josie is a single mom who works as a mystery shopper to make ends meet in her hometown of St. Louis. Josie's assignments span American socioeconomic strata: from high-end boutiques in ritzy malls to grubby discount warehouse stores selling shoddy goods, from nice chain restaurants to horrid grease-burger joints. Many of them make for comic scenes.

"Accessory to Murder" involves Josie in her best friend Alyce's family crisis, and we come to know Alyce as more than a wealthy suburban wife and mother who cooks artfully in her big dream kitchen. When Alyce's unlikable husband is charged with the murder of a neighbor, Alyce and Josie hunt for evidence to clear him. It's not looking good for the home team: Alyce's hubby's been caught on tape meeting the attractive victim at a local hotel though he vehemently denies it involved sex. And before we find out whodunit, our heroines unearth even more dirt on the guy.

Someone wants Josie off the case: her credit card info is stolen and her home literally inundated with merchandise Josie didn't order. How better to distract a 21st Century sleuth than to tie her down at home clearing up the damage from identity theft?

That's not the only clever twist in the book. I usually don't keep my contemporary cozy paperback books after reading them but this one's going onto the shelf. I may reread it some day. It was that good. ( )

Mystery shopper Josie Marcus is back and better than ever in Elaine Viets newest series.
Josie has the kind of job most people only dream of having. She is a mystery shopper. She gets paid to shop and report on the visit. Sounds like fun, but it has its drawbacks. One is, single mon Josie, is never going to be able to afford the thousand dollar,Haily Hardwick designer scarves, she is looking at. And the other is,her boss,Harry, perpetual Akins dieting Harry. The man is a suttle as a chain saw. Now Harry has it out for Josie, big time. He gives her all the worse shopping jobs out there. Bad for Josie, good for us. There are a lot of laughs for the reader couresty of Josie's assignments from Hell.
Oh yeah, there is also a murder, danger AND Josie's blind dates set up by mom.
I highly recommend this and Elaine's other mystery series "the dead end job".
One more thing, in spite of the hot pink covers, it is suitable for men. ( )