Scandal at Six

October 14, 2013
At the start of Purser’s slow-moving 13th cozy featuring Lois Meade, owner of the New Brooms cleaning service in the English village of Long Farnden (after 2012’s Found Guilty at Five), a dangerous snake surfaces inside the shop run by Lois’s grown daughter, Josie Vickers. It’s clear early on that Robert Pettison, the reclusive owner of a private zoo outside town, is up to no good—probably the illegal breeding and sale of rare animals. In furtherance of Pettison’s illicit schemes, his nephew, Justin Brookes, seeks to rent the vacant apartment over Josie’s store. From the get-go, Lois recognizes the creepiness of Pettison, who can’t resist staring at her legs at every opportunity, but she still agrees to take him on as a cleaning client. As usual, Det. Chief Insp. Hunter Cowgill, who also admires Lois’s legs, assists in what Lois’s husband calls her “ferritin’.” Readers expecting a puzzling mystery will be disappointed. Agent: Georgia Glover, David Higham Associates (U.K.).

December 1, 2013

Lois feels uneasy about the eccentric zoo owner whose cavalier attitude about his escaped critters is rattling the villagers. Not surprisingly, the house cleaner's instincts are spot-on; this is her 13th case (after Found Guilty at Five).

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2013
British cleaning lady Lois Meade is at a loss to explain the reptiles left in her daughter's shop, but it seems as if someone is menacing her and her family. An eccentric zoo owner refers to his animals as people, even after some of them injure one staff member and kill another. Lois and her team of cleaners are on the case, helping to figure out how all the incidents are connected. Intruders and more animals sent to the women are meant to scare them off the case, but this intrepid group of English ladies is a brave lot. Purser's series is distinguished by her sympathetic treatment of all but the worst villains, and that's the case here, too, as an illegal-animal leader and a local prostitute receive multifaceted characterizations. Fans of M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin will enjoy Lois and her team of amateur sleuths.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)