From Publishers Weekly
In this high-caliber debut, Trocheck introduces wry Everywoman J. Callahan Garrity, a former cop and failed gumshoe who now runs a cleaning service in Atlanta, Ga. While cleaning the home of snooty society lady Lilah Rose Beemish, Callahan is hired to trace Kristee, the family's Mormon nanny, who has absconded with furs, jewels and, Callahan learns, incriminating business secrets gleaned from Lilah's husband Bo during their affair. Callahan's investigation leads her to Kristee's zealous Mormon boyfriend, to a miffed lesbian who loved the missing woman and then to Kristee's body, stored in a fur vault with Lilah's black sable. Bo and Lilah seem increasingly likely suspects as Callahan digs up dirt about Bo's shady multimillion-dollar real estate deal, all the while operating her business and coping with the discovery of a lump in her breast. Down-to-earth and independent, Callahan is surrounded by equally vivid, captivating characters, including her nosy, chain-smoking mom and a gossipy, unreliable cleaning staff, who want in on Callahan's investigative action. A clever, colorful page-turner, not to be missed. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
Cloying debut of ex-Atlanta cop turned part-time p.i. Callahan Garrity, who, with her wisecracking, three-pack-a-day mom, Edna Mae, also runs House Mouse, a cleaning business that's short on help, which means that Callahan arrives to tidy the Beamish residence just as Kristee, the nanny, is discovered missing--along with jewels, furs, rare coins, and important business papers. Callahan also discovers that the wayward Kristee was juggling three romances, had lied about her Mormon background, was blackmailing the philandering Bo Beamish about a shady real-estate deal he'd hustled, and, as a result of all this--or some of it--is now lying dead in the fur vault at Rich's department store. Whodunit? The House Mouse maids reconnoiter various homes, while the police arrest the wrong suspect. Meanwhile, Callahan makes lots of calls to Utah; Edna Mae pays the killer a visit; and the sinners are separated from the Church of the Latter-day Saints. Overly cute, with (predictably) the cleanup crews finding all the clues. And heavy-handed attempts at social satire, plus leaden repartee between Callahan and her mom and cop friends, don't help. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


-- New York Times
"Crisp intelligence and earthy wit."


Book Description

After ten years of cleaning up the dirt on Atlanta's streets, Callahan Garrity is trading in her badge for a broom and a staff of house cleaners. But, though the uniform is a little different, Callahan soon finds herself right back in the middle of a mystery when a client's pretty, pious nineteen-year-old nanny is gone ... along with the jewelry, silver, and a few rather sensitive real estate documents.

Before she knows it, the meticulous Callahan is up to her elbows in a case involving illicit love triangles, crooked business deals, long-distance scams, and a dead body. Now she has to roll up her sleeves and start some industrial strength sleuthing to solve -- and survive -- this mess.


About the Author
Kathy Hogan Trocheck has written seven previous Callahan Garrity mysteries, including Midnight Clear and Strange Brew. A former reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she lives in Georgia with her husband and two children.

ANNOTATION

Introducing Julia Callahan Garrity, a former cop and failed gumshoe who now runs a cleaning service in Atlanta. While working in the home of an ex-sorority sister, Callahan is hired on the spot to trace the family's nanny, who's taken off with jewels, furs, and some sensitive real estate documents.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Kathy Hogan Trocheck has written seven previous Callahan Garrity mysteries, including Midnight Clear and Strange Brew. A former reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she lives in Georgia with her husband and two children.

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