Synopses & Reviews
The third delightful installment in the cozy series starring small town laundromat owner and amateur sleuth Josie Toadfern––"Sharon Short's appealing heroine Josie Toadfern sparkles." ––Carolyn Hart
Paradise, Ohio, laundromat owner Josie Toadfern is content with her life. She loves owning her own business (especially because she learns everyone in town's dirty little secrets from their dirty little clothes); she has plenty of friends, she has a beloved cousin she dotes on; and her blossoming romance with a professor named Owen Logan is about to hit full bloom. She's even earning some extra money by renting out the second apartment over her laundromat to a nice young couple who own a New Age bookshop and Tarot Card reading room in town.
But when a psychic who is in town for the upcoming Paradise Psychic Fair stops Josie on the street and warns her of impending danger and sorrow in the small town, Josie worries she may just be right. For Josie's nice young boarders and their New Age friends who are attending the Psychic Fair have the more conservative Paradisites pitted against them, and an economic downturn has hit local businesses. But when Josie and Owen stumble upon a body one dark night, it seems that matters are much more grave than anyone expected. And what's worse, another gruesome murder may be in the cards...
o o Great for fans of mysteries populated with fun and wacky characters and capers. With a small, seemingly quiet and unsuspecting town, a cast of screwball characters, and a sassy, hilarious heroine, this is a delightful take on the village mystery. Josie Toadfern's "Stain Buster" column appears at the end of the book. In hilarious detail, the column provides stain tips and helpful hints for all the messes that the characters have gotten themselves into. This column will appear in each book in the series.
Review
“...as cozy as it is cunning with cleaning tips galore and a simply wonderful domestic goddess on the scene.” Mystery Scene
Review
“Sharon Shorts Josie Toadfern is wonderfully quirky.” Jill Churchill
Review
“DEATH OF A DOMESTIC DIVA is an immaculate conception, and more importantly, good clean fun!” Mary Kay Andrews
Synopsis
Laundromat owner and stain removal expert Josie Toadfern knows her tiny twon's dirty clothes and most of its dirty little secrets. But an upcoming "Psychic Fair" is bringing a brand-new mess to Paradises, Ohio. The arrival of all manner of mystics and soothsayers has raised the dangerous ire of a local evangelist and his minions, as well as the more conservative citizens of Paradise—so it doesn't take a crystal ball to predict that murder will ultimately foul the fair. But Josie couldn't foresee that she'd be the one to stubmle upon the body, or that her impeccable stain-sense would embroil her in the nasty homicidal happenings. And suddenly her attempt to psych out a killer has Josie's own future looking very grim indeed.
About the Author
Sharon Short's humor column, "Sanity Check," appears every Monday in the Dayton Daily News. Her fiction credits include several short mysteries published in Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine and Orchard Press Online Mystery Magazine. In addition, Ms. Short is a principal of her own marketing communications firm and has a bachelor's and a master's degree in English. She lives in Miamisburg, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.