Book Review: Dumpster Dying by Lesley A. Diehl

Dumpster Dying
Lesley A. Diehl
Oak Tree Press/Dark Oak Mysteries, 2011
ISBN 978-1-51009-006-3
Trade Paperback

Emily Rhodes is, as Detective Stanton Lewis likes to think, “Not much bigger than one of Santa’s Elves.” She’s petite and blond, cute as a button, on the young side of fifty and on the wrong side of luck when her love of ten years keels over from a heart attack.

Bartending at the Big Lake Country Club in the heart of Florida cowboy country seems like a fit, she gets paid, likes her boss Carla, and there’s always golf with some girlfriends when she can work it in.

Unfortunately, life gets complicated after a late night shift and the garbage that won’t fit into the dumpster soon shows why: there’s the body of a nasty customer in it. She has every intention of calling the police, but the door is locked behind her, leaving her stranded without keys or cell phone. Fortunately, the local deputies show up because someone anonymously called it in, and doesn’t she look sweet for the crime?

But, as they say, wait…. It gets better.  The good news is that her boss, Carla, used to be a practicing attorney, and with the chutzpa of Godzilla, manages to spring Emily  from the local police station. The bad news is that Carla soon becomes a suspect because, like most people in town, she hated the guy. And, to add to Emily’s stress, it looks like she’s going to have to fight her lover’s ex  in court for his modest home and meager estate, and where’s she going to get the money for an attorney?  Carla’s dad, despite living in a rest home so he’ll have women to chase, is still a practicing attorney, or at least he is when he’s interested, or likes the client.  He likes Emily, so as a favor he decides to represent her against the ex-wife and the possible arraignment for murder.

I was charmed by the family dynamics in this book; Emily and her newly found biological daughter, and Carla, her dad and her son. There was enough humor to keep me giggling at the author’s asides about the men in the story and I was also pleased to see that Emily, who generally greets a frightful situation with hiccups, grows into a resourceful and competent amateur sleuth.Ultimately, it’s Emily’s boss, Carla, and her troubled teenaged son’s past that will become the focus of a complicated history that sweeps all of them up into a maelstrom of murder.

The plotting is tight and I loved the author’s quick wit, so I’m adding this book as one of my few highly recommended reviews.

Reviewed by RP Dahlke, August 2011.
Author of the Lalla Bains mystery series.

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September 1, 2011  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Guest Reviews

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