Clean Sweep

Peri Minneopa Mystery #0.5

by Gayle Carline

"Either Grant Franklin was getting better with his aim, or he hadn't been using this toilet for at least two days." When a housecleaner discovers a client's son has gone missing, she puts herself in the middle of trouble, trying to convince the client to call the police, and trying to convince the police they need to be called.This short story was previously published in MISSING (Echelon Press) as "Cleaning Up at the Franks."

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery

19 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 26, 2011

About the author

Gayle (G.S.) Carline has been an artist, a software engineer, and an author, mostly because she believes in reincarnation while you're still alive to learn a lesson or two. She loves to write mysteries, fantasies, and humor--and sometimes all together.
Currently, she lives in sunny southern California with her husband and a sassy Corgi. She also has a son and two horses, all of whom she enjoys even if they don't live with her.

Reviews

[Denise Zendel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peri Minneopa cleans house for a wealthy family and gets a bad feeling one day when she notices the house is too clean. The cleanliness bothers her enough that she asks her cop boyfriend to look into things and before she knows it, she’s got a mystery to solve.

This short story is apparently the prequel to the Peri Minneopa novels, which are very enjoyable reads. It let me get to know Peri, and what makes her tick. It also had one of the best opening paragraphs I’ve seen in a long time: “Either Grant Franklin was getting better with his aim, or he hadn’t been using this toilet for at least two days.”

This was a light, easy, enjoyable read, and if it would have been my first contact with Peri, it would have left me wanting more. As I’m already a fan, this just fleshed out my enjoyment of the character. Worth reading.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the prequel to the Peri Minneopa mysteries. This is where she starts out as a house cleaner. The missing teen is what gets Peri to realize she wants to be a PI.