Homemade Sin by Kathy Hogan Trocheck

Title: Homemade Sin
Author: Kathy Hogan Trocheck
ISBN: 0061092568, Harper Mystery, 1995
Genre: Cozy mystery, Private Investigator, #3 Callahan Garrity mystery
Rating: C-
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: "Nine-letter hint," I muttered, absent-mindedly winding a curl around my finger.

When her cousin Patti McNair is shot to death in her new car near the Garden Homes project in Atlanta, a horrible situation is made even worse by the fact that her young son is in the car with her. Callahan refuses to believe that Patti's death is a random robbery and senseless murder, and sets out to find her own suspects and conduct her own investigation. In fact, she's being so mule-headed about the whole thing that she puts her own life in danger.

I've enjoyed this series about a former Atlanta police officer who's now owner of the House Mouse cleaning service. Granted, Callahan's mother has always rubbed my fur the wrong way with her methods of getting her daughter to do as she wants, but I could overlook that. Unfortunately, in Homemade Sin there were a few too many things I couldn't overlook.

For one thing, I can't help but compare this series to Ann Purser's Lois Meade series centered on a woman running her own house cleaning agency in small town England. Purser's series wins, hands down. It's obvious that Callahan had a career previous to House Mouse, and by the way she's always haring off to do something else, her heart isn't in her current career. On the other hand, Lois keeps a tight rein on her business, takes care of her family and solves crimes.

Trocheck's series, set in Atlanta, also has a tendency to limit African American characters to the roles of domestics, gang bangers and project dwellers, which didn't set well with me.

But what really got up my nose is the behavior of Callahan herself. At the very beginning of the book, there really isn't any evidence to support Callahan's belief that Patti's murder was planned. I'm sorry, but Callahan's guilt over not talking to or visiting with her cousin as often as she should have in recent years just isn't evidence to me. Our intrepid heroine then proceeds to ride rough-shod over everyone else in the family to pursue her gut feeling. She has no respect for anyone else's feelings or wishes. Then she pouts when family members give her the Silent Cold Shoulder Treatment. Gah!

Yes, Callahan was proved right, but I'm still annoyed with her. Hmm... see why I have enjoyed this series? The characters can get to you! If you're in the mood for a cozy with a heroine whose heart is in the hunt and not the scrub bucket, give Kathy Hogan Trocheck's Callahan Garrity series a try. Not everyone is a curmudgeon like me!

REVIEW: To Live and Die in Dixie

Title: To Live and Die in Dixie
Author: Kathy Hogan Trocheck
ISBN: 0061091715/Harper
Protagonist: Callahan Garrity, ex-cop now owner of the cleaning service House Mouse
Setting: present-day Atlanta, Georgia
Series: #2
Rating: B

First Line: The lump under the sheet stirred, ever so slightly.

Things are looking up for Callahan. She's got someone to keep her warm at night, House Mouse is running smoothly, and her health is good. Things are looking up...until she agrees to clean Eagle's Keep, an old Victorian mansion owned by one of the more obnoxious citizens of Atlanta. When she and her team show up to clean, they not only find three stories of mess and clutter, they find a body. Callahan decides to be good and leave the police to take care of the murder, but Elliott Littlefield, the owner of Eagle's Keep, hires her to find a priceless Civil War diary that was stolen when the murder occurred. Callahan does her best, but it's not easy to track down stolen goods when the murdered girl's sister decides to tag along.

This is one of the few cozy mystery series that has been able to hold my attention lately, and it's due to the characters. Callahan is smart, funny, and she doesn't go off half-cocked and take stupid chances. Her mother is cranky, but not to the point where I want to stuff a sock in her mouth, and the House Mouse cleaning crew is a cast of characters all by its lonesome. Trocheck throws in plenty of reasonable red herrings that kept me scratching my head until I'd read about three-quarters of the book. This is definitely one cozy series that I'll continue reading.

REVIEW: Every Crooked Nanny

Title: Every Crooked Nanny
Author: Kathy Hogan Trocheck
Protagonist: J. Callahan Garrity--ex-cop, failed P.I. and owner of the House Mouse cleaning service
Setting: present-day Atlanta
Series: #1
Rating: B-

First Line: I knew it was going to be a bad day when Neva Jean called that early in the morning.

While cleaning the home of snooty Lilah Rose Beemish, Callahan is hired to trace Kristee, the family's Mormon nanny who has absconded with furs, jewels and business secrets stolen from Lilah's husband Bo during their affair. Callahan's investigation leads her to Kristee's boyfriend, to a lesbian who loved the missing woman and then to Kristee's body, stored in a fur vault with Lilah's black sable. Bo and Lilah seem the most likely suspects as Callahan digs up dirt about Bo's multimillion-dollar real estate deal.

Trocheck has a marvelous cast of characters in this first book of the series, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does with them in following books. The only real problem I found with Every Crooked Nanny was that it really didn't pick up steam until the last third of the book.