From Publishers Weekly
In the midst of preparations to host the Olympics, the city of Atlanta is locked in the grip of racial tension when a drunk driver, wealthy white socialite Whitney Dobbs, runs down a black child and is sentenced to a small fine and 100 hours of community service. Callahan Garrity, owner of The House Mouse cleaning service and part-time PI, reluctantly takes on some detective work for Whitney, whose ex-husband, well-known cardiologist, Carson Dobbs, is suspected of financial hanky-panky. Meanwhile, Whitney is gunned down while collecting garbage for the city and Callahan, whose mother, Edna, is just out of the hospital, is drawn into the murder investigation. In Callahan's fifth outing (following Happy Never After), memorable characters abound, from the two elderly black sisters, Baby and Sister Easterbrooks, House Mouse employees who use Kotex for dinner napkins, to Neva Jean, another employee, who is allergic to the emus her husband has just bought. Traveling from the heights of Atlanta society to the depressed area known as the Promised Land, Callahan narrates her newest adventure with zesty enthusiasm, all the way to a thrilling climax with the murderer in a rustic cabin. Trocheck has a sure winner in Callahan. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA?Feisty ex-cop Callahan Garrity owns and manages an Atlanta cleaning service, plus runs a private-detective business. As the city prepares for the summer Olympics, Whitney Dobbs becomes the target of hate after she is acquitted of killing a young black girl while driving drunk. Callahan reluctantly accepts the rich woman's plea for help in solving financial problems in her divorce. When Whitney is murdered, the private eye sets out to determine who did it. The plot is simple and straightforward, but the most puzzling mystery is why the book jacket features two white rollerblades that have no significance to the plot. However, the story provides lively, glib dialogue from delightfully eccentric characters such as Miss Sister Easterbrooks, her sister Miss Baby, and Callahan's mom, Edna. The heroine exudes strength of character, courage, and independence yet maintains her humanness. All of Trocheck's characters are blessed with a sense of humor, a zest for life, and devotion to others that is often lacking in Sue Grafton's novels. This light leisure reading will hook young adults into other mysteries as well as more Trocheck.?Linda Diane Townsend, formerly at Fairfax County Public Schools, VACopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Everybody in Atlanta hates Whitney Albright Dobbs, the well- connected society matron who downed a brace of Tanquerays at her club, ran down eight-year-old Faneeta Mayes, and then got off with a fine and a hundred hours of community service (the highway trash patrol) thanks to a bleeding-heart lawyer who blamed everybody except his client. But even Whitney Dobbs deserves a fair shake now that she's not so well-connected anymore; her cardiologist husband Carson Dobbs, long separated from her and cloven to her replacement, has taken advantage of her legal troubles to squirrel away his assets and file for divorce. So when Whitney asks Callahan Garrity, p.i.-cum-house cleaner (Happy Never After, 1995, etc.), to go on a treasure hunt for her ex's family jewels, Callahan reluctantly takes the case. Her plan to insinuate her ailing but indomitable mother into Dr. Dobbs's practice as a patient and to mobilize her staff at The House Mouse to spy on the good doctor is just bearing its first fruits when Whitney and another member of the highway cleaning patrol are shotgunned and stuffed into the roadside trash. Was the killer the heart-specialist husband, one of Faneeta Mayes's distraught parents, or just one of the dozens of picketers who'd been calling for Whitney's blood up till the day of her death? Callahan's fifth is conscientiously plotted, if the waves upon waves of witnesses don't wear out your patience. (Regional author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


"A fast-paced, highly entertaining caper."

The Atlanta ]ournal-Constitution
"Trocheck has an eye for the Southern icon, an ear for the musically Georgian phrase, and an aptitude for multidimensional characters."

Louisville Courier journal
"A fast-paced, highly entertaining caper."

Book Description

Former cop, currently co-owner of the House Mouse housecleaning service, and freelance p.i., Callahan Garrity raises eyebrows when she accepts an assignment from the most hated woman in Atlanta -- a wealthy white socialite who killed a young black girl in a drunken hit-and-run and was punished with no more than a slap on the wrist. Even Callahan's "Mice" are grumbling.

But when a roadside murder turns up the heat on the racial tensions that have been simmering dangerously since Whitney Albright Dobbs received her laughably light sentence, Callahan realizes she'll have to pull out all the stops to trap a mean, mad killer -- for the sake of justice and a city that's threatening to explode.

About the Author
Kathy Hogan Trocheck has written seven previous Callahan Garrity mysteries, including Midnight Clear and Strange Brew. A former reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she lives in Georgia with her husband and two children.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Atlanta is temporarily distracted from its pre-Olympic frenzy by the sensational case of Whitney Dobbs, the wealthy, white ex-wife of a prominent cardiologist, who ran over a little black girl while driving drunkenly through a park. With the aid of a wily lawyer, she has managed to get off with a misdemeanor charge plus a few hours of community service, and the city is outraged. So when Whitney is shot to death while picking up roadside trash (as part of her community service), people seem happy to accept the cops' verdict that she's just another casualty of a neighborhood where the chief hobby is indiscriminate shooting. Callahan had been doing some detective work on Whitney's spectacularly messy divorce before the shooting and now she's been hired by Whitney's daughter to track down the killer. Callahan uncovers suspects from every social stratum: the parents of the girl Whitney killed, Whitney's greedy ex-husband, and his fluffily malevolent new gal pal. Only a crazy man witnessed Whitney's murder and he communicates solely via biblical riddles and allegorical paintings. As she races to uncover the killer before she herself gets killed, Callahan's riotous personal life rattles along at full throttle. Her hated sister and brother-in-law move in while their house is being renovated (for renting out during the Olympics), her irascible mom, Edna, suffers some (literal) heart trouble of her own, and the rogues' gallery of "girls" in her employ offer a wealth of comic relief - from unusual table settings to impotent emus.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In the midst of preparations to host the Olympics, the city of Atlanta is locked in the grip of racial tension when a drunk driver, wealthy white socialite Whitney Dobbs, runs down a black child and is sentenced to a small fine and 100 hours of community service. Callahan Garrity, owner of The House Mouse cleaning service and part-time PI, reluctantly takes on some detective work for Whitney, whose ex-husband, well-known cardiologist, Carson Dobbs, is suspected of financial hanky-panky. Meanwhile, Whitney is gunned down while collecting garbage for the city and Callahan, whose mother, Edna, is just out of the hospital, is drawn into the murder investigation. In Callahan's fifth outing (following Happy Never After), memorable characters abound, from the two elderly black sisters, Baby and Sister Easterbrooks, House Mouse employees who use Kotex for dinner napkins, to Neva Jean, another employee, who is allergic to the emus her husband has just bought. Traveling from the heights of Atlanta society to the depressed area known as the Promised Land, Callahan narrates her newest adventure with zesty enthusiasm, all the way to a thrilling climax with the murderer in a rustic cabin. Trocheck has a sure winner in Callahan. (June)

School Library Journal