Publishers Weekly And Kirkus Reviews Give Maid of Murder Great Reviews

Publishers Weekly Review. (April 12, 2010)

This title will publish in June 2010

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Maid of Murder: An India Hayes Mystery Amanda Flower Five Star, $25.95 (282p) ISBN 978-1-59414-864-4

Flower’s breezy debut introduces a quirky heroine—India Hayes, a librarian at Martin College in Stripling, Ohio, who’s also an artist. India agrees, yet again, to be a bridesmaid, this time for her childhood friend, Olivia Blocken, for whom her brother, Mark, an assistant professor at Martin, still carries a torch. After Olivia left Stripling for college elsewhere, Mark suffered a breakdown and buried himself in mathematics. Not wanting to upset Mark, India doesn’t tell him she’s a bridesmaid in his lost love’s wedding. When someone pushes Olivia to her death in the college fountain and Mark becomes the most likely murder suspect, India turns amateur sleuth in an effort to prove her brother’s innocence. Warring cats and distinctive characters, like India’s “everything Irish” landlady and her bizarre ’60s activist parents, will appeal to cozy fans. (June)

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/455943-Fiction_Book_Reviews_4_12_2010.php

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Kirkus Review. (April 15, 2010)

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MAID OF MURDER
Author: Flower, Amanda

Some tales of murdered brides are pretty grim. Not this one.

Martin College librarian India Hayes is surprised when her childhood friend Olivia Blocken asks her to be a bridesmaid. She’s even more surprised at the horrifying bridesmaid’s dress her old friend has picked out. The pair’s friendship has been cool ever since Olivia dumped India’s math-whiz brother Mark in high school, but India feels a sense of duty to Olivia despite that dress. She also knows that, as a bridesmaid, she has a way to keep Mark away from the wedding—an important office, as he’s never really gotten over his feelings for Olivia. When Olivia is murdered days before her nuptials, Mark is the obvious suspect—obvious to everyone except India, who’s certain that her brother would never hurt a fly. As the Blocken family pushes hard for Mark’s arrest, India turns amateur sleuth in pursuit of evidence that will convince Detective Rich Mains of her brother’s innocence. Added to this are the complexities India has to deal with in her family: her liberal parents, throwbacks from the ’60s who want to stage a demonstration; her pregnant sister Carmen, who’s a bundle of combustible hormones; and Mark, who may be his own worst enemy.

The first bud in a new series that fans of Donna Andrews’s lighthearted Meg Langslow mysteries will be eager to see bloom.

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/kirkusreviews/magazine/mystery.jsp