Monday, July 15, 2019

Cliff Hanger by Mary Feliz


First Line: "Mom, you sure those directions are right?"

Professional organizer Maggie McDonald has found the perfect summer job: helping Renée Alvarez set up her property management office in a condominium complex on the shores of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Maggie will have a condo for the summer, her two sons and their golden retriever will enjoy the beach, and her husband will join them on the weekends. Fantastic, eh?

Well, fantastic until her two sons try to rescue a badly injured man who crashed his ultra-light on the cliffs. The man dies, and Maggie's family become suspects in a murder investigation and the target of a lawsuit. It's a good thing Maggie's specialty is managing chaos because she still needs to do the job she's being paid for, keep one step ahead of the media, and avoid the attention of various criminal elements. Will Maggie be able to keep everyone safe and solve the crime?

Mary Feliz's Maggie McDonald series is one of my favorites when I need to read a mystery but want to read one where all the major characters are The Good Guys. The latest, Cliff Hanger, falls right into that category. The McDonalds are Good People. They use their common sense. Maggie and her husband Max are teaching their children to be good citizens. They pitch in when their community needs them. They have a good support system with their family and friends. Even more important, they have no qualms about doing the right thing.

There are organizing tips at the beginning of each chapter that are truly useful and easy to implement, and the mystery is a good one that kept me guessing. One of the things I enjoyed the most in Cliff Hanger was the setting: the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. I could practically smell the salt air and hear the waves pounding the beach. This is Maggie's first experience living in a small town (where you're one or two introductions away from knowing all the residents), and she really likes it. Having spent the first eighteen years of my life in an even smaller town, I smiled as I read this... and bided my time. Sure enough, Maggie's opinion of small-town life evolved just as I knew it would.

Cliff Hanger is another strong entry in this feel-good series that's such a pleasure to read. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of trouble Maggie gets into next.


Cliff Hanger by Mary Feliz
eISBN: 9781516105274
Lyrical Underground Press © 2019
eBook, 226 pages

Cozy Mystery, #5 Maggie McDonald mystery
Rating: B+
Source: Net Galley


 

4 comments:

  1. That's an interesting idea for a protagonist, Cathy - a professional organizer. And it sounds as though she's a solid character, too. This isn't a series I'm familiar with, 'though I've heard of it, but it sounds like a solid blend of plot and characters, without getting too 'sweet,' if I can put it that way.

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    1. You certainly can because I know exactly what you mean!

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  2. First thing that caught my eye was the beautiful cover, the second thing was Monterey, I used to live there.

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