Maid of Murder

Mystery lovers, meet India Hayes: artist, librarian, friend, sister, daughter, bridesmaid, and soon to be amateur detective. After agreeing to serve as a bridesmaid (ugly dress and all) for her childhood friend Olivia, India is torn between family and friendship loyalties, as India's brother Mark still carries a torch for his ex-girlfriend Olivia. When the wedding is canceled and a funeral scheduled instead, the cops cry murder and Mark is the prime suspect. It's up to India to come to her brother's defense when the whole town turns against him...and her.

Author Amanda Flower does a wonderful job of bringing to life the town of Stripling, Ohio. The supporting cast - India's activist parents, the Irish landlady, Olivia's rebellious teen show more sister, a pair of ill-tempered cats, and many others - creates extensive realism to the backdrop of the novel. Instead of just hearing a story the reader feels introduced to the town's life with hopes that this will be the first of future adventures involving India Hayes. The mystery in the story was well-layered and Flower kept the pacing right to build intrigue throughout the book.

Maid of Murder is a charming and well-written book with a fresh plot and unique characters. It was great to encounter a novel centered around a woman that did not involve her quest for a man, and Amanda Flower has created a winner in the witty, smart heroine India Hayes. show less

India Hayes has been a bridesmaid several times already (but never the bride), but this wedding may be the most exciting yet. The bride—a childhood friend of India’s—Olivia Blocken is killed just before her wedding and the main culprit is her brother who asked Olivia to meet him by the fountain just before her death. All the trails lead up to Mark: ex-boyfriend still pining for Olivia and a rendezvous that led to death, but India is determined that Mark had nothing to do with Olivia’s death.
Maid of Murder, while it may sound odd, biggest asset for me was not the murder mystery, but the cats. That’s right: the cats. Not just ‘a’ cat, but two cats: Templeton and Theodore. Two freaking awesome cats that duke it out in the show more bedroom with claws and biting fur flying everywhere. Before you call PETA on me, I am not into animal cruelty, but this scene was freaking hilarious. Or maybe it was just the dialogue that was funny?

Okay, back to the novel. The mystery aspect as very straight-forward and is a classic mystery—one that I already solved when all the characters were introduced mind you. There is no extremely challenging or “original” I could say to Maid of Murder, but it still provided a light-hearted (as far as a murder mystery can be light-hearted), delightfully fun read.

The characters themselves were caricatures: exaggerated, bigger-than-life, but funny as heck. We have Ina, the landlord for our heroine, so proud of her Irish heritage that her apartment is completely green and her lawn covered her ornaments. The parents: the mother is a Reverend and the father fell down the roof paralyzing his lower half, but they are both huge activists. Picket signs, chaining themselves to trees, chants, the whole shebang. The sister: pregnant with twin girls and very loud. What’s not to love?

In all, Maid to Murder is a well-paced mystery novel that is humorous, but still leaves lingering desires for a sequel. show less

Maid of Murder is a lighthearted cozy mystery that is also very funny. I grew up in Ohio so I loved that the book takes place there. I think the author has a unique writing style that you will either love or not. I'm in the "love" category. I found this book refreshing, entertaining and full of laughs. All the characters were, well...characters. They all had their own personalities and quirks.

I loved this book and want to read more from Amanda Flowers. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to read a light, funny who dunnit

Maid of Murder by Amanda Flower is the first of what I hope is a long list of India Hayes mysteries. The story is a wonderfully entertaining cozy mystery. India‘s character is likeable and has an admirable tolerance level for her radical parents and rather eccentric neighbor. She also has an endearing loyalty to her brother and an understanding of his moods and behavior.

The story is clever and fast-paced as India takes the lead in finding out what really happened to her long-time friend Olivia. It looks bad for her brother, but her loyalty to him drives her through some adventures and very funny action. Her relationships with her brother, sister, nephew, and parents seem like a real-life family. I enjoyed every minute of this show more first-rate book and I look forward for more. show less

Maid of Murder was an excellent read. It was easy-going, fairly slow-paced read for a murder mystery. The characters were interesting and the plot was well developed. Yet, it didn't quite have the thrill of a suspence reader, and it took me several days to read because I'd set it down and not pick it up for a while. Rating - 3 stars due to good story

India is a librarian at a small college. It pays the rent, but her real ambition lies in her painting. She is part of a somewhat unusual family. Her parents are activists and her mother is a minister, her bossy sister is married and the mother of a little boy, and her brother is mathematician who feels most comfortable with his theorems. The family keeps a lawyer on a retainer, to bail out her parents after they have chained themselves to their latest cause, something that has been occurring as long as India can remember. She is suposed to be a bridesmaid for her former best friend, but those plans abruptly end when the bride is murdered. Author Amanda Flower has created a charming background for some delightfully eccentric characters. show more The plot of this first book in the series may leave you with some unanswered questions, which hopefully will be explored in future installments. The mystery is interesting, if somewhat predictable, and quite entertaining, a good start for a promising series. show less

This is the first of a series set in a college town in Ohio. Our protagonist, India, is one of the librarians at the college library, the daughter of a couple who have made it their task in life to save every 'historical' building slated for demolition in their city, and the sister of an overachieving sister (Carmen) and brother (Mark). The brother is accused of murder and his little sister tries to help, eventually solving the murder. My problem with the book is that the family dynamics of her family were very hard to take. I come from a family of 6 children and my family would not have been nearly as hard on me as they were on India. The budding relationship between the detective and India was fun and seemed realistic. I'm hoping #2 show more in the series is better. show less