"Murder on Monday"

I picked up one of Ann Purser's mysteries at the library then discovered it was a series so returned it and checked out the first book in the series, "Murder on Monday."  Wow!  If I understand the cover info about Purser, she is an author and avid reader of detective stories but this is her first murder mystery.  The tale she wove is incredibly complex and kept me guessing about "whodunnit" until almost the very end!  Lois Meade is married with a daughter and two sons.  When her children are all in school, she decides it's time to go to work to help support the family.  Since her husband is gone most of the day working the the family business and her best skills seem to be in cleaning, she decides to take on cleaning jobs.  This doesn't set well with her children until she agrees that all her jobs will be in a nearby village and not near home.  With her mother living nearby and able to help with the children, she begins a career in the village of Long Farnden where she cleans at five different homes on five different weekday mornings.

Once Lois has established her career as a cleaning lady she decides she'd also like to take on the unpaid position of  a volunteer local constable but that's not well received by her family or the interviewees at the police department who don't believe she has enough spare time to take that on, too.  However, when the Long Farnden local spinster, Gloria Hathaway, is murdered, suspicion falls on many of the residents that she cleans for and her help is enlisted on an informal basis by the police investigating the murder.

In the meantime, her 14 year old daughter has become involved with a young man several years older than she and Lois and her husband are concerned about the relationship so are keeping a watchful eye on it while trying to also discourage any serious attachment.  Teenage girls can be a handful on their own without this complication!

As Lois quietly does some sleuthing at the homes where she cleans, she gets to know her families a little more than she planned and seriously looks at all of them as suspects but finds it hard to believe any of them would be guilty of murder.  She also learns her husband had a connection to the deceased spinster and her whole world is rocked by this revelation.  The police want to continue to have her assistance but also warn her to be careful because she might be endangering herself as well as her family.  When Long Farnden residents also warn her, she does begin to wonder if she's not cut out to be a police informant.  However, she soon learns it's too late when she's forced to turn to the police for help saving a family member.

I'm getting a strong sense that this is just the beginning of a continued relationship between Lois Meade and the local police investigator and her services are going to be needed in future stories in this series.  I can't wait to find out!  pazt