Cleanup

by Norah McClintock

Connie Suarez, downsized from her job as a legal secretary, is working as a maid. She's getting used to picking up after people and putting their lives in order. But she is not prepared for the mess that awaits her when she arrives at work one morning to find her employer dead on the floor of his bedroom. Connie's co-worker Maria, an undocumented immigrant from Colombia, quickly becomes the prime suspect in his murder. When Maria begs her for help, Connie cannot refuse. As she tries to discover what really happened, she learns that Maria has been keeping a number of things from her. Now Connie can't decide who or what to believe. And that's not the worst of it. Connie soon realizes that she herself is also a potential target for violence. The question now is, will she be able to clean up the mess that Maria is in without getting killed herself?

Genres: Mystery

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Norah McClintock’s fascinating mysteries are hard to put down. Her Chloe & Levesque series, Mike & Riel series, and Robyn Hunter series, all published by Scholastic Canada, have been popular with readers in many countries. Norah has also written several crime novels for reluctant readers in the Orca Soundings series from Orca Book Publishers,

Norah is a five-time winner of the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Novel. Read Mistaken Identity, The Body in the Basement, Sins of the Father, Scared to Death, and Break and Enter to find out why! Norah's books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and she has won numerous awards.

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award - Juvenile
o 1996 – Mistaken Identity – Winner
o 1998 – The Body in the Basement – Winner
o 1999 – Sins of the Father – Winner
o 2002 – Scared to Death – Winner
o 2003 – Break and Enter – Winner

Red Maple Award
o 2004 – Hit and Run – Winner

Reviews

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super quick read, but a pleasant one. A nice little twist at the end.

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great short read! Reminds me of the show the cleaner.

[Greer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little book to relax with when you're killing time. For such a short story it had a great twist.
I didn't figure it out early, that's for sure.

[Dani Paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Fun and fast, but a little basic.

[Shannon Rickert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these rapid read books. Just the right amount of information. Oh my gosh talk about thought I had the killer (well I did have the killer) just not the huge twist with it! very good read.

[Rebecca Roche · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read, takes about an hour. Fun and interesting.

[Angela De Groot · Rating 5 out of 5]

My ESL class enjoyed it. Lots of twists and surprises.

[Bri Irving · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick easy read & kept me interested. Liked the twist at the end too

[Yolly T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would you believe that your friend is a murderer? Will you investigate the truth to help her? In this book “Clean Up” written by Norah McClintock, the murder case involved a love story. It is a kind of a mysterious story. Connie, who is working as a maid, is the protagonist of this story. One morning, she arrived at the house where she worked. The owner of the house is Mr. Richard Whites, a old man living alone. She was confused why Mr. Whites didn’t appear from the kitchen the way he did every morning when she arrived. Suddenly, she heard Maria, her co-worker, shouting to her. Maria was asking Connie to go to the bathroom. At the beginning of this scene, Connie finds that Mr. Whites lying on the floor without moving. He was dead. Maria was standing next to the body with blood stains her hands. Everyone will think that Maria is the murderer because of this scene but Connie didn’t. She believed her because she had always spoken fondly of the old man and had even flirted with him. Then, she told Maria to lie about her not being there. After that, Connie phoned nine-one-one to report the death to the police. The story shows the process of the investigation. During the investigation, Connie and the detectives discovered many stories about Maria and the Whites Family. Mr. Richard Whites had a will that left everything to Maria which made the son very angry. During the worse of the investigation we discover many twists and turns that involve the family.

The author described the scene and the characters'emotional expressions very clearly. That’s so important in this kind of story. When I read it, I could imagine the scene easily. In addition, the author revealed the murderer in the end, which made the audience keep reading. The beginning caught the audience’s attention quickly. Overall, this book is suitable for youth who love mystery stories. I think teenagers would like it because the book is not that long and it is easy to read. The vocabulary is easy to follow. This story shows how much trouble it is to clean up other people's messes as well.

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cleanup is part of a series called Rapid Reads, and since it took me a little over an hour to read, I'd say it qualifies. Cleanup, however, did hold my attention.

Connie and Maria are maids for Mr. Withers, an elderly man who lives alone. When Connie arrives at work one day to find Maria standing over Mr. Withers' dead body, her life is about to change.

Maria is accused of the murder. It turns out she has been having an affair with the deceased, and he's changed his will to cut out his son and give everything to Maria. Connie, who knew nothing of the affair, or that Maria has been lying to her about her past, still decides to help Maria, who Connie believes could not have committed the crime. Connie used to be a legal secretary, so she helps get Maria a lawyer.

Since the book is only 128 pages, it never stops. There isn't much description, and the language is simple. But it is a good story, even though predictable.

Cleanup has a somewhat unique audience. The books is about adults and targeted to an adult audience. I'm thinking it would be appropriate for ESL students or others who have trouble with English. Cleanup would have appeal to reluctant readers of any age who like a quick who-done-it. For it's intended audience, Cleanup delivers an action packed, easy to read, attention getting plot.

[Carolina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted at: A Girl that Likes Books

It makes part of the Rapid Reads series, and it was indeed a fast read, so it was perfect during the Read-a-Thon. But it wasn’t fast just because it was a short book; it was fast passed and well written and there were not dead moments in the story.

Connie has to help her friend, even though she keeps finding out that Maria has been keeping a lot of secrets from her. Not that they were best friends, but there were the type of things that you share, at least without too many details.

I haven’t read anything else from the author, but I liked her style in this book. The characters are presented with enough details so you understand their actions, but you are not swarmed with details that then pop up by surprise.

In all it was a fun read, a different read. I would recommend this book when you need something between books; I wouldn't call it a "sherbet" because it has a little bit more content than the books I usually classify in that category, but since the whole plot passes by really fast it works perfectly to open your head for a new coming story.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great quick read, especially if you are looking for a faced paced 'whodunnit' kind of book. One of the 'Rapid Reads' series, it's great for a beach read, one to read while travelling or if you are between books and are looking for something to fill in.

Connie Suarez has a law degree in her own country, but in the US must find other work. She does so as one of the "Missy Maids" She and her co-worker, Maria, normally work together Monday to Friday cleaning the home of their client, Mr. Withers. Withers is an older and extremely wealthy older gentleman who lives alone in his huge house.
Connie wakes up to Maria's phone call one morning saying she was already at work and she didn't need a drive. When Connie arrives, she finds Withers is dead, and Maria quickly becomes the main suspect in the murder, even though Connie does what she can to try to protect her.
There really is no 'downtime' in this book, the story goes along and you go along for the ride.The story moves along at a great pace and there are lots of different tidbits of information that pop up to make you try to figure out whodunnit. But the ending was not completely predictable, which was nice. It is an enjoyable story and I look forward to reading more by Norah McClintock.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Consuela or Connie and Maria are housekeepers for wealthy, older gentleman, Richard Withers. Connie lost her job as a legal secretary and Maria is an illegal alien. Connie usually picks Maria up for work but one day, Maria phones and says she will meet Connie at Mr. Withers’ house. Connie should have known something was up. When she arrived at the house she discovers Maria in the bedroom with wet hair and a murdered Withers. So begins a mystery that unfolds quickly as Connie tries to piece together what she knows about Maria with what she learns as the police investigation progresses and zeroes in on Maria as a suspect. Was Maria a gold digger who wanted a wealthy older husband to make her legal? Or is she just a convenient scapegoat for someone with more to lose? This is part of the Rapid Reads series from Orca for adults. It is a light, quick read for people who like mysteries. While the main characters may not resonate with most teens, some may find the adult problems a refreshing change from teen angst.

[Dexter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The biggest problem with this book is that it's incredibly short. I'd barely started it and realized that it was almost over and we were entering the climax of the ending. The plot was also weirdly complicated, with lots of weird love entanglements and other things that didn't make a lot of sense. If it were more fleshed out, it could've been good.

I also never felt anything for the main character. I didn't get to know her at all. Sure, I learned her basic backstory, but I can't remember ever learning anything about her that made her a person and not just a point of view.

To be fair, the other characters were just as one-sided. They had their personality and they stuck to it. When secrets came to the surface, they were just kind of pasted onto the character. Nothing ever really took me by surprise because I barely knew the characters to begin with.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another 'Rapid Read' (Hi-Lo fiction for adults), but suitable for high school shelves too. I thought the writing was good, the story held myy attention, and the solution to the mystery is not predictable. The main character is a woman with training as a lawyer in her native country, but forced to take a menial job in the US in order to get work, and we get to know some of her trials and thoughts about that. However, the reader's credulity gets too much of a workout in the denouement of the murder-mystery--too many motives & secrets in too short a time.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again McClintock crafts a fast paced well-written mystery. In Cleanup, Connie, a former lawyer turned maid, must put the pieces of a client's murder together in order to help a fellow house cleaner. Connie learns some important clues in order to quickly solve this murder. I enjoyed that this was a fast read and look forward to reading more from Norah McClintock.

[Mel Raschke]

Connie is working as a maid and stumbles upon the dead body of her employer. Her friend and coworker, who is in the United States illegally, is branded as the prime suspect, and Connie becomes an amateur sleuth to help get her out of trouble. But does she know her friend as well as she thinks she does? The action is fast paced, and the characters like able.

[Matty · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a good book if you love murder mystery book. This book is about maid that is accused of murder but it was really the grand father’s son. The maid speaks fluent Spanish and was accused of murder because she was in the house at the time of the murder.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very quick read but quite enjoyable! Fun mystery and glad to have read it!!

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short book but enjoyable to read. There were a few unexpected twists in the second half of the book.

[Elizabeth Gosse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like short mystery novels. I enjoyed this story that ended with an expecting twist. I think I will read more books by Norah McClintock.

[Jamilah B]

Good Book ;]