Tired of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books? Or, if not, are you looking for another fun romp? Try Maia Chance’s Bad Housekeeping, and meet Agnes Blythe and her Great-Aunt Effie. No cars explode, but the inept pair of amateur sleuths drive around Naneda, New York in a stolen Cadillac, dodging the cops as they hunt for a killer.

After putting her professor boyfriend through grad school, Agnes Blythe is dumped. She stomps out, without packing her clothes, her contacts or her cell phone charger. She’s stuck living at her dad’s, sleeping in her pink princess bedroom, and wearing clothes that fit her ten years earlier. Then, she burns her bridges at her temp job at the library when she insults Kathleen Todd, chair of the local historical society. What now? Maybe she can help her Great Aunt Effie clean out the condemned inn she inherited. But, Effie only has one week to bring the wiring up to code. Kathleen Todd pressured the local inspector to fix a deadline for razing the inn. And, Kathleen remains a troublemaker after Agnes and Effie find her dead, strangled by her own scarf which was caught in the wringer of an old washing machine on the inn’s porch.

Rumors immediately start flying that Agnes and Effie killed the woman. But, Agnes is shrewd enough to realize the killer may have started those rumors. With Effie’s encouragement, Agnes finds a spirit of adventure she didn’t realize she had, and launches a full-scale investigation. But, one-by-one, the suspects on their list are being killed. And Effie and Agnes are on the scene to find each body.

Lies, crimes, and bodies. They all pile up in this laugh aloud mystery. And, Agnes and Effie are only responsible for some of those. Bad Housekeeping is a funny romp with a great cast of characters. Let’s hope Chance’s new series has a long run.

Maia Chance’s website is www.maiachance.com

Bad Housekeeping by Maia Chance. Crooked Lane. 2017. ISBN 9781683311676 (hardcover), 304p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure – I received the book to review it for a journal.