Margery Flax here, Marlboro-smoking landlady of the Coronado Tropic Apartments in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In most Dead-End Job mysteries by Elaine Viets, you see me by the pool drinking wine in a sunset salute, or puttering around the property.
But ever since Helen Hawthorne and Phil Sagemont got married and opened their own private eye agency, Coronado Investigations, I also work for them as an independent operative.
I’m seventy-six and I like this age. Sure, I had fun being young and pretty. But now that I’m old and wrinkled, I have something better than beauty – power.
As a Coronado operative, I usually go undercover as a tourist or something.
But in Elaine Viets’ newest Dead-End Job mystery, “Board Stiff,” I put on the dog. I have a drop-dead gorgeous couture suit, a cigarette holder and a rented Rolls Royce – at four in the morning. I’m hired to protect a suspect in the hospital until Phil can safely deliver him to the authorities.
“Board Stiff,” Elaine’s twelfth Dead-End Job mystery, is the ultimate beach book. Crooked politicians and jealous rivals in mythical Riggs Beach want to ruin Sunny Jim’s Stand-Up Paddleboard Rentals (that’s where the “board” in “Board Stiff” comes from). There’s fast action and a little romance.
I’m pretty good myself in my expanded role. Imagine Maggie Smith with sand in her shoes, and you’ve got some idea how I played this role. Here’s my big scene from “Board Stiff.” – Margery
“Where is my grandson? I wish to see him immediately.” Helen recognized that voice. Margery. She stormed into the emergency room at four in the morning, magnificent in her chaos.
Helen watched from her ER cubicle as their landlady swept through in a lavender Chanel suit. The suit had an ethereal shine in the sad late-night fluorescent light. Margery’s elegant ropes of pearls and gold clinked delicately, the soft sound of money. A large-brimmed hat dipped over one eye.
Margery puffed on a cigarette in an ebony holder. Helen thought that was overdoing it.
A sturdy shorthaired nurse in puke green scrubs planted herself in front of Margery. “You can’t smoke in here,” she said, a brave bulldog barking at a goddess. “And you can’t park your Rolls in front of the emergency room entrance. That’s for ambulances.”
Rolls? Helen wondered. Where the heck did Margery get a Rolls at this hour?
“I didn’t park the car there,” Margery said. “My driver did. You may tell him to move it.”
“Not till you put out that cigarette.” The nurse had the pale white skin and nearly colorless eyes of a cave creature. “It’s a fire hazard.”
Helen admired the nurse for standing her ground. Margery was formidable. The nurse waited, hands on hips, until Margery stubbed out her cigarette and stowed her cigarette holder in her Chanel handbag.
“There,” Margery said. “You may talk to my driver now.” Dismissed.
Helen was surprised that the tough little nurse left. Margery stalked straight to the ER cubicle with the Riggs Beach cop posted in front of it. He started to say something, but Margery glared him into silence.
She threw open the door and said, “Darling, what have these awful people done to you?”
“I –” he said.
“Sh!” Margery said. “Don’t say a word, sweetheart. You let Grandmama handle everything.” Accent on the “grand.”
Phil raised an eyebrow and Helen smiled at him. He wrote a quick note: “Margery watching suspect till I call police. Told her to be rich bitch.”
“Doing good job,” Helen wrote.
Thanks to Penguin, I have one (1) copy of FINAL SAIL to give away. Leave a comment to be included in the giveaway. The book will be shipped directly from the publisher. Contest ends June 2; US entries only per publisher’s request.
Publishers Weekly says “Board Stiff” is “entertaining…..Viets shines at evoking Florida’s vibrant landscape and even more colorful characters.” praises her “quick-witted mysteries.”
Check out the book trailer at
Meet the author
Elaine’s bestselling Dead-End Job series is a satiric look at a serious subject – the minimum-wage world. Her character, Helen Hawthorne, works a different low-paying job each book. Elaine won the Agatha, Anthony and Lefty Awards.
“Board Stiff: A Dead-End Job” mystery is an e-book and a hardcover from Obsidian, a division of Penguin. Read another sample at www.elaineviets.com.
What a wonderful preview. Must look for this one, too. Dee
Love Margery! Glad she’s getting an expanded role this time! Can’t wait to read it!
i’m currently reading Shop till You Drop, so it would be exciting to have this book waiting for me, as i continue with the series!!
thank you for the giveaway!!!
Thank you for reading the series, Cyn. The book order and a preview of each book is on my Website, http://www.elaineviets.com. Just click on “novels.”
Great series.
On of my favorite series!
Margery is one of my favorite characters in this series. The Maggie Smith comparison is spot on! Look forward to Phil and Helen’s new adventure, thanks for the chance to win!
This has always been a favorite series.
I just love this series, would really love to win 🙂
I want to grow up to be Margery. Love her!
I just bought a copy of Board Stiff and cannot wait to read it. Great preview. Thanks for this chance to win.
This book sounds really good!
I adore this series and Margery is my favorite character. I can’t wait to read this one. It promises to be just as entertaining as the others!
Elaine Viets’ books are always fun. Looking forward to this one!
This looks great!
I adore Elaine Viets’ books! Would love to have a copy of “Final Sail”, somehow I missed reading it. Can’t wait to Margery in action in the new book!
Thank you for the chance to win this book. It looks like a fun one to read
Here’s the trailer for “Final Sail.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfRBtMp1AIU
Whenever I read any of the Dead End job books, I can honestly say that I laugh out loud throughout the book. Being older as the character is makes her very relatable to me too. 🙂 Happy that a new book is out and I would certainly love to be the recipient of it. Thanks for the great writing, Elaine.
Elaine is one of my favorite authors. I’ve been reading the Dead End series right from the beginning (I found it in the library) and I’d love to actually add this one to my personal library.
These dead end job mysteries are so much fun—and they can go on and on because there are so many dead end jobs these days.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
Isn’t that the truth, Sue. Everyone has worked at least one dead-end job.
Can’t wait to read this one, Elaine. Margery is an awesome character.
I ordered Board Stiff the other day and I’m looking forward to another visit with Helen, Phill, Margery and all the denizens of the Coronado. I grew up in South Florida, and these books are like a visit home.
Come on back, Kay. It’s almost hurricane season. Florida has four seasons — hot, hotter, hell and heaven.
I live near Galveston Bay now, Elaine. I’ll see you the hurricanes and raise you the occasional hard freeze.
Last hard freeze we had three years ago, made the iguana fall out of the trees.
I can totally see Margery striding the hospital halls.
I love the Dead End Job Mysteries, I read one book in this series and now want more, like potato chips! Thank you for this giveaway,
CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com
I’ve had plenty of dead end jobs and that’s why I love this series. Please put me in the draw. judydee22002@yahoo dot com
I want to meet Margery and take her out for a drink. She sounds like my kind of person!
She likes screwdrivers, heavy on the vodka, Libby.
Sounds like a great mystery.
LOVE this series!!!!!!
Hi, all. Margery is one of my favorite characters, too. I hope you’ll enjoy her expanded role in “Board Stiff.”
I have this one on my wish list!
OK, Margery Flax is my kind of girl. She has always been a wonderful character, but now she is even more. I want to be her when I grow up. This is a series that is always fun and fascinating, and this looks like another winner.
Margery reminds me of the women I’ve met here in Florida — older, not not old. They’re still active and interested in life.
Margery rules!! The book is wonderful, and you video is the perfect preview.
Thanks, Mary. From one story teller to another.
Board Stiff sounds like a lot of fun.
It’s a beach vacation — without the sunburn, Barbara.
Thanks for the giveaway!!! I can’t wait to get my hands on these books to read.
I love this series! Both the dead-end job series and the mystery shopper series by Elaine Viets are fantastic! She usually has me laughing out loud.
Laugh out loud funny is what I’m after. Also, reading the best parts to your spouse. (Mine husband finds that habit really annoying.)
Wonderful! I see that I need to reread this series ASAP!
You’ve got 12 juicy books in this series, Rachel. Dive in! More information about them is at http://www.elaineviets.com
I grew up in West Central Florida and love catching up with my seedy homeland reading the Dead End Job series! Board Stiff was especially good in capturing beach life and death, commercial and otherwise.
Enjoy, Debra. “Final Sail” and “Board Stiff” are the perfect beach read — light, but with enough substance it’s not too fluffy.
Just finished Board Stiff! You’re gonna love it, ya’ll.
High praise from a sister mystery writer. If you haven’t read Marcia’s Hannah Ives series, check out “The Last Refuse.”
Thanks Elaine and Margery to telling us about your evening.
My pleasure, Dru Ann. I enjoyed meeting all your readers.
Contest is closed, but comments are always welcome