The Cluttered Corpse: A Charlotte Adams Mystery

by: Mary Jane Maffini

Published by: Berkley Prime Crime / Penguin Group

Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann

The second in the delightful Charlotte Adams mystery series, The Cluttered Corpse, is set in Woodbridge, New York. Charlotte has moved back home and is surrounded by her old friends and has plenty of clients for her organizing business. She visits the home of a new client, Emmy Lou Rheinbeck, to help her organize a collection. Her home is minimalist and modern on the interior, set in a traditional older neighborhood. There is nary a collection in sight, until they go upstairs, where Charlotte is astounded to see thousands of pastel stuffed animals. Her adoring husband started buying them when he heard she had never had a stuffed animal as a child.

While they are upstairs, a thump on the second-story bedroom window startles them. They are shocked to see two scary faces leering at them and then there is a camera flash. It is Kevin and Tony, two “harmless” neighborhood kids. Kevin lives next door, and he is a bit developmentally disabled, and Tony hangs around and takes advantage of him.

Emmy Lou is visibly shaken, and asks Charlotte to leave. As she is getting in her car, she sees neighbor Bill Baxter berating Kevin and Tony for bothering Emmy Lou. She decides to scrutinize the situation to see if the boys are stalking her, and talks to her friend Margaret, an attorney, and Pepper, a police detective. Pepper of course tells her to butt out–that they cannot do anything without a complaint from the citizen involved. When Charlotte returns for her second appointment with Emmy Lou, she finds her on the front step in hysterics, screaming, “I killed him!” When Charlotte goes into the house she finds Tony at the base of the steep stairway with a broken neck, surrounded by stuffed animals.

The possibilities are endless: Could it have been an accident? Why is Emmy Lou insisting she murdered Tony? Was Charlotte’s husband Dwayne involved? Who is the beautiful young singer at his restaurant that he seems very close to? Is Emmy Lou protecting someone? Do her parents really live across the street, and why are they estranged?

You will really enjoy Charlotte and her friends Jack, Lilith, Margaret, Rose, and Sally. The ways they care for each other and try to help Charlotte investigate are very nice.

Armchair Interviews says: Very enjoyable read.

Author’s Web site: http://www.MaryJaneMaffini.ca