It's been a while since Helen Hawthorne left St.
Louis to start a new life under an assumed name. On the run
from her money-grubbing ex-husband Rob, she has taken
various dead-end jobs to make ends meet. Her latest
position as a saleslady at a high-end consignment shop named
Snapdragon has her rubbing elbows with the elite women in
Fort Lauderdale. It's not the most desirable position, but
at least it pays the bills.
As she tries to make nice with the local ladies, Helen and
her quirky boss Vera stumble upon some tantalizing scoop
concerning a powerful developer named Danny Martlet and his
cute, Barbie doll wife, Chrissy. As tempers begin to flair,
Helen does her best to stay out of the mix as she watches
her own neighbor and even the county commissioner get caught
up in the melee.
Just when she thinks the worst has passed, Chrissy is found
dead at Snapdragon hanging by a scarf in the dressing room.
To make matters worse, Helen's ex-hubby is back on the
scene demanding unpaid alimony that he definitely does not
deserve. As if things aren't complicated enough, Detective
McNally, who has a bone to pick with her from the past, is
assigned to the case. Within a blink of an eye, Helen goes
from being an innocent bystander to the top of the suspect list.
HALF-PRICE HOMICIDE is ninth installment in The Dead-End
Job Mystery series by the award-winning novelist Elaine
Viets. Once again, her spicy and spunky heroine Helen takes
the bite out of being unappreciated and underpaid as she
tries to solve her latest caper. With lots of twists and
turns plus a comical cast of characters, HALF-PRICE HOMICIDE
is a bargain hunter's dream.
The national bestselling author presents a high society
murder mystery...
At Snapdragon, a high-end
designer consignment shop, Helen is at the beck and call of
snobby-yet frugal-customers. That alone is a deadly
combination, especially with Chrissy, a drool-worthy
fashionista who walks in with a purse to sell, and ends up
screaming at her husband and another customer.
Helen is used to dealing with snobby women, controlling
husbands, and fashionable politicians. But she\'s about to
have to handle a brand new type of unsatisfied customer-a
murderer. Chrissy is found dead in Snapdragon\'s dressing
room, with the hand-painted scarf Helen was just holding
tied around her neck. And Helen goes from being low on
society\'s totem pole to high on the police\'s suspect list.