Oops! Charlotte Adams here. I am so happy to be visiting Dru’s Book Musings today. Thank you for having me, Dru and readers. I am supposed to tell you about a day in my life as a professional organizer and occasional amateur sleuth. Normally this would be my favorite topic and I would throw in some handy organizing tips for you plus there would be a fun visit with my miniature dachshunds, Truffle and Sweet Marie. On an ordinary day, I’d tell you I’m the luckiest person in the world, living in Woodbridge NY, surrounded by the friends I grew up with, making my living with the best job in the world. Probably I’d serve you some of my favorite Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk and a cup of very good coffee. I’d show you around my apartment on the second floor of the yellow Victorian house with the white gingerbread trim, owned by my forever friend and now love of my life, Jack Reilly. I’d probably mention that we’ve been planning to renovate and return the house to a single-family home with our own future in mind. You’d figure out in passing that I had many happy hours in this house as a child when Jack’s parents were still alive, where it was a place that a lonely little girl could find cookies and affection and stories.

But here’s the thing: this is no ordinary day. My normal life has been disrupted by the fact that my mother is AWOL. That’s right: my mother. Gone! Pfft! Yes, she’s never emotionally available, but she always calls me on Tuesday nights. These are command performances that I wouldn’t dare miss, even though I am an adult. Now for two weeks: radio silence. Not only that but my perfect little apartment has been trashed by unknown thugs looking for … well, who knows what? Put yourself in my place and you’ll understand how distracting and abnormal all that would be. There is no normal when your mother is missing. There is only panic. I am not good with panic, especially when I know certain dark secrets in our past may be the cause of her disappearance. It must be obvious that I need to take action. Full disclosure: I should point out that Jack and I found ourselves inadvertently at the site of an arson and murder. The police have said, “Don’t leave town.”

So I will be cancelling my consultations and all appointments, tossing my to do list into the garbage and very quietly getting ready to dash around her favorite European destinations with Jack until I find her. I’ll start with Paris, Lisbon and northern Italy. Yes, I know there are dark alleys, sinister histories, speeding trains, steep cliffs and much more to worry about, but what choice do I have?

Wish us luck, and please, don’t let anything slip to the police.

Provided any of us make it out alive, you can read all about what happened in Death Plans a Perfect Trip.

Thank you for your patience, dear readers.

Death Plans a Perfect Trip, A Charlotte Adams Professional Organizer Mystery #6
Genre: Cozy
Release: May 2022
Purchase Link

When her mother disappears, professional organizer Charlotte Adams will have to take off on a very disorganized trip across Europe to save her life . . .

It’s not unusual for Esme Adams to dash off overseas with no warning, but when weeks pass and Charlotte still hasn’t heard from her, she begins to worry that her mother’s in danger and has gone into hiding. Before she can even begin to guess where to start looking, though, Charlotte finds her own home ransacked and then set ablaze. Determined to escape a more serious attack while the police investigate, she sets off for Europe, hoping to track down her mother at one of her secluded getaway spots.

As Charlotte follows a winding trail of clues through Paris, Lisbon, Milan and beyond—narrowly missing her mother in each city, and just as narrowly eluding her pursuers—secrets begin to emerge about her mother’s shadowy past. A history of ties to criminal organizations, an infamous bank heist, and a gentleman thief who may have been her one true love all raise questions about her mother’s true identity and the peril she faces. As Charlotte processes the dizzying implications about her mother, her own childhood memories, and the father she never knew, she’ll have to work fast to catch up with her mother, before her mother’s past catches up with them all . . .

Travel Organizing Tips Included!

About the author
Lapsed librarian and former mystery bookseller Mary Jane Maffini is the award-winning author of the Camilla MacPhee mysteries, the Fiona Silk capers and the Charlotte Adams series. Her Charlotte Adams professional organizer mysteries have recently been optioned for television. The latest, Death Plans a Perfect Trip, has just been released. As Victoria Abbott, MJ collaborated on the five book collector mysteries with her daughter, Victoria. Book Four, The Marsh Madness, won the 2015 Bony Blithe for mysteries that make us smile. MJ lives and plots in Manotick, Ontario with a pair of rescued dachshunds at her feet. Her husband sleeps with one eye open.

All comments are welcomed.