Dead-End Job Series by Elaine Viets
Dead-End Job #1
Shop Till You Drop dj-1
Elaine Viets
Once on the fast track to success, Helen Hawthorne is now going nowhere fast. She traded in her chic life for a shabby one. And now she's on the run, jumping from city to city and dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to stay one step ahead of her past... After two weeks as the new salesclerk at Juliana's, Fort Lauderdale's ultra-exclusive clothing boutique, Helen still feels out of fashion. And since the only crime likely to be committed around here is being old-or worse, looking old-Helen figures she's safe. Until she discovers the manager has been embezzling money and selling designer drugs along with the designer clothes. Add murder to the mix-and Helen's dead-end job is downright deadly.
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Dead-End Job #1
Murder Unleashed
Elaine Viets
From Publishers WeeklyFull of wry social commentary, Viets's fifth Dead-End Job mystery (after 2005's Just Murdered) finds series heroine Helen Hawthorne, former St. Louis biz whiz, still on the lam and working off the books at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., shop called Pampered Pets to avoid paying alimony to a philandering ex-husband. The murders of two Pampered Pets customers—Tammie Grimsby, an aging, sex-crazed trophy wife; and Willoughby Barclay, owner of Barkley, a "Labradoodle" who's the object of a custody dispute in an ugly divorce—sets Helen on the sleuthing trail. Viets wickedly explores the trendy and sometimes cruel fashion of using dogs as accessories and exuberantly depicts this elite pet world, which includes dueling dog groomers as well as murder suspects. A hurricane threat adds zest to the hunt for the killer. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Product DescriptionHelen Hawthorne has no choice but to take on a series of dead-end jobs to make ends meet. Unfortunately, they're exposing her to a lot of people who end up dead. Her latest gig at the Pampered Pet Boutique isn't proving to be a warm and furry exception-and now she's got a murder to solve and a kidnapped pup to find, all before a Category 3 hurricane hits.
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Dead-End Job #2
Murder Between the Covers dj-2
Elaine Viets
Helen has a new job "off the books" at Page Turners bookstore in Fort Lauderdale...until the owner is murdered. But since the arrogant Page Turner III had so many enemies, Helen will have to read between the lines to uncover the truth about a clever killer.
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Dead-End Job #3
Dying to Call You dj-3
Elaine Viets
While making the best of her new telemarketing job, Helen Hawthorne thinks she hears a murder on the other end of the line-and must avoid a close call with a killer.
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Dead-End Job #4
Just Murdered dj-4
Elaine Viets
Helen Hawthorne's new job at a bridal salon becomes downright funereal when a bride-to-be's mother is murdered. Now, Helen must find the killer before this turns into another dead-end position for her-literally.
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Dead-End Job #7
Clubbed to Death
Elaine Viets
From Publishers WeeklyIn Viets's sprightly seventh Dead-End Job mystery (after 2007's Murder with Reservations), intrepid Helen Hawthorne, now a customer care clerk at the snobbish Superior Club in Golden Palms, Fla., is dismayed to run into her money-hungry ex, Rob, in the club parking lot. When Rob, who's now married to a wealthy club member known as the Black Widow because her last five husbands have died mysteriously, tells Helen he fears for his life, the unsympathetic Helen hits him. Fellow club employees witness their fight, and one of them, Brenda, almost succeeds in getting Helen fired. Later, the authorities view Helen as a prime suspect after Rob disappears, a possible murder victim. When someone beats Brenda and a philandering plastic surgeon to death with Brenda's seven iron, Helen has a lot more to worry about. The romantic ending will leave fans eager for the next installment in this superior cozy series. Author tour. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review"Clever...[The] real satisfaction is in observing the club members at their worst."-New York Times Book Review
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