From Publishers Weekly
Callahan Garrity, who runs a cleaning service in Atlanta and performs an occasional investigation, gets an intriguing glimpse of music-industry exploitation and corruption when she's hired to find a member of her favorite singing group of the '60s, the VelvetTeens. Hoping to make a comeback, Vonette Hunsecker and her cousin Rita Fontaine want Callahan to find Rita's sister, Delores, who left the group in 1967. The case gets more complicated when Rita, who has scrapped in public with Stuart Hightower, the still-flourishing manager and producer who used up the VelvetTeens and tossed them aside, is found snoozing by his pool, reeking of scotch and holding the gun that has killed him. Callahan's investigations reveal a host of folks nursing grudges against Hightower, among them his ex-wife, who once tried to burn down his house. Callahan is good company, even when her ongoing relationship with Mac McAuliffe hits the skids and takes her self-esteem with it. But the real lure, compensating for the too many moments of strained humor, is the look at the people who are the cannon fodder for the hit parade. Earlier titles include Every Crooked Nanny and Homemade Sin. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
YA?This fourth book about this young woman will appeal to Grafton and Paretsky fans. A hit group from the '60s, the "VelveTeens," have a chance at a comeback, but need to find a member, Delores, who was last heard from 20 years ago. Callahan Garrity, sometimes detective, agrees to look for the missing singer, not realizing she'll soon be looking for evidence to clear another VelveTeen from murder charges. Still running her House Mouse Cleaning Service with her mother, Callahan hasn't lost any of her brashness, impetuousness, or sense of humor. Though most of this mystery focuses on '90s music, the payola for record-play time on radio stations hasn't changed from the '60s and leads Callahan into some dangerous situations.?Pam Spencer, Fairfax County Public Library, VACopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Callahan Garrity may be the fictional female sleuth with the oddest day job. As this fourth series entry opens, House Mouse--the cleaning service she runs with her bossy, smart-mouthing mom, Edna--is so busy Callahan almost refuses the missing-person case she's offered by Vonette Hunsecker, volatile ex-wife of C.W., Callahan's mentor and buddy from her days with the Atlanta police. Fortysomething Vonette and her cousins Rita and Delores were the VelvetTeens, a '60s girl group. Now a movie producer has plans for the VelvetTeens, so Vonette and Rita, who drinks too much, need to find Delores, who ran off years ago. Complicating matters further, the man who was the group's Svengali, Stu Hightower, enjoins the women from using the group's name, which he still owns. Soon Hightower's dead, and Rita's found nearby, drunk, with a gun. The House Mouse crew pursues a Hit Parade of other suspects, and Callahan's unadmitted jealousy brings her relationship with longtime lover Mac to a crisis. Spiced with this personal drama plus music biz nostalgia and gossip, Happy Never After closes in tense confrontations with a very ruthless killer. Mary Carroll


-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"The prose is tart and lively, the storytelling swift-paced, and the large cast and multiple plot lines deftly handled."


-- Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Amusing and engaging ... careful, craftsmanlike writing."


-- Sue Grafton
"Fresh, confident, intelligent, and amusing. Grab a cold drink, put your feet up, and enjoy yourself."


Book Description

Since retiring from the Atlanta Police Department, Callahan Garrity is really cleaning up with her House Mouse housecleaning company -- especially since she added"crime investigation" to the list of services offered.

Callahan agrees to locate the missing member of the popular '60s girl group, the VelvetTeens, and she doesn't have to search long. Deloras Carter, the a.w.o.l. singer, is found passed out drunk by a swimming pool near the dead body of the trio's former producer. The smoking gun in Deloras's hand suggests that the VelvetTeens won't be reuniting for a comeback tour anytime in the near future ... unless Callahan and her "Mice" can spotlight -- and survive -- a different killer act.


From the Publisher
The sixties and nineties collide in the fourth installment of Trocheck's acclaimed series when Callahan Garrity, Atlanta's most inquisitive cleaning lady, sets out to prove the innocence of a rock idol of her childhood.


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

Callahan needs all the help she can get trying to keep Rita Fontaine, a washed up 1960s teenage rock star, out of jail. It's nothing less than murder when Stu Hightower, the vain, temperamental president of a thriving Atlanta recording company, is found dead. But discovering who hated him enough to kill him could send Callahan floating lifeless down a river.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In this fourth installment of the widely acclaimed Callahan Garrity series, the South's favorite cleaning lady/sleuth immerses herself in the world of sixties girl groups and nineties rap groups to hunt the killer of a suave, self-serving record producer. The last thing Callahan needs is a new case. Her maid service is running above capacity and her boyfriend, Mac, is heading to Birmingham to see his ex-wife for the first time in ten years. But she can't resist this case because it involves the VelvetTeens, her absolute favorite girl group from the sixties. The surviving VelvetTeens, Rita Fontaine and Vonette Hunsecker, are all set to make a comeback movie deal when their onetime producer, Stuart Hightower, prohibits them from using the VelvetTeen name or singing their old songs. Rita, whose years of alcoholism and dead-end jobs have dulled her judgment, threatens Stuart publicly the day before he's found shot to death by his swimming pool. Nearby lies Rita, unconscious, and everybody thinks it's an open-and-shut case except Vonette, who hires Callahan to prove Rita's innocence. Callahan learns that Hightower had made more enemies than records - from the disc jockey he'd blackmailed to the pop diva he'd scorned to the sullen teenager he'd transformed into a rap sensation to his icily efficient second-in-command at SkyHi Records. Even as Callahan trawls the underside of the music business she must strive to rein in her wayward boyfriend, control the eccentric troupe of "girls" she employs, and avoid the attentions of a killer.

FROM THE CRITICS

Sue Grafton

Fresh, confident, intelligent, and amusing. Grab a cold drink, put your feet up, and enjoy yourself.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The prose is tart and lively, the storytelling swift-paced, and the large cast and multiple plot lines deftly handled.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Amusing and engaging ... careful, craftsmanlike writing.

San Jose Mercury News