Clean Sweep

by Jane Heller

Suspense meets romance meets zany comedy as a spoiled princess is forced to become a maid in a tough economy. The laughs keep coming in Jane Heller’s debut novel about love and survival.

What’s a woman to do when her husband loses everything in the stock market…then ditches her to go back to his first wife? If she’s Alison Waxman Koff and she’s been living the good life in her Connecticut McMansion, Maplebark Manor, she sells her furs and starts doing her own nails. But that isn’t enough to stave off foreclosure, so she falls back on her one marketable skill: housecleaning. She secretly becomes a maid, piling her Windex, her Fantastik, and her vacuum into her Porsche and going to work for a sleazy celebrity biographer. When that ends in mayhem and the murder of her only customer, Alison finds herself with yet another role to play: prime suspect. Enter Cullie Harrington, the hot photographer who comes to photograph Maplebark Manor for the realtor. He offers her his sailboat as a safe haven from the police, along with the kind of unconditional love she’s never known – as long as they both can stay one step ahead of the real killer.

An engagingly winsome heroine, Alison sheds her material girl image as she scrambles to keep in step with a changing world and to find romance with a man whose love for her is recession proof.

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Mystery, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Contemporary

387 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Jane Heller, a New York native who recently moved from Santa Barbara, CA to New Preston, CT, is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 13 novels of romantic comedy, including "Name Dropping," "Lucky Stars," and "Best Enemies." Nine of Heller's novels have been optioned for film or television, and all of them have been translated in countries around the world. Her first book of nonfiction, "Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course of True Love with the New York Yankees," is a humorous look at her passion for baseball. Her book about caregiving, "You'd Better Not Die or I'll Kill You: A Caregiver's Survival Guide to Keeping You in Good Health and Good Spirits," combines Heller's personal essays about being the wife of a man with Crohn's disease and the daughter of a mother with dementia, plus interviews with other caregivers who deal with everything from autism to Alzheimer's and advice/tips from experts. "You'd Better Not Die" is upbeat and inspirational - a cheerful companion to the over 60 million caregivers in America. Heller's new novel, "Three Blonde Mice," a spinoff of her bestselling novel "Princess Charming," was published on August 2, 2016.

Reviews

[Chana · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, the good, the bad and the cha cha cha. The good is that the writing flows along nicely and the one-liners are often funny. The bad is that meaningful it is not, and it is blighted both by graphic sex scenes and unflattering caricatures of wealthy, secular east-coast Jews. The cha cha cha? Well that's what its all about! No wait, that's the hokey pokey (and there is way too much of that going on in this book!)

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book on a whim since the back described it as a book of the 90s and I really enjoy books that are deeply rooted in a specific nostalgic period. For a romantic murder mystery (do those things really go together?), this was better than expected.

[Jeff Lyon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane Heller's heroine, Alison Waxman Koff, in Cha Cha Cha, is a Jewish woman frustrated by her inability to please her overbearing mother, who has brainwashed her daughter into believing the only way she can succeed is to marry a wealthy man. The 80s recession caused Alison to lose her husband to his former wife, along with her luxury home, meager income as a small-town newspaper writer, and worldly possessions.

In desperation for quick cash, Alison ends up working as a maid for a famous exposé author. Through a series of frustrating gaffes, Alison winds up accused of murder. Unable to avoid obvious blunders while trying to clear her name and exact revenge on her enemies paints Alison as a fool, leaving me to repeat time after time while reading, "Any idiot would know better than to do that, Alison!"

Alison finds a perfect man to help her with her trials, but she constantly attempts to sabotage their relationship. Because of Alison's foibles and self-inflicted setbacks, I never warmed up to her character and lost interest in her succeeding by the end of the contrived story.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't remember where exactly I picked up this book - a free library or fill a bag sale, but I had been saving it for a time like this - 39 weeks pregnant, anxious and not many brain cells to spare. I enjoyed the humor, the who-dunnit (although fairly easy to solve), and the main character. Not the greatest thing ever written but for this season in my life, a quick read to distract me from everything else. Also I enjoy reading books set in a pre Internet, pre smartphone era - it's easy to forget just how much everyday things have changed over the course of my lifetime.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was pretty good once it got going. Very wordy but I speedread it so it helped the rythm of the story move better that way.
Liked the characters.
Liked the "giving them the cha cha cha" phrase. I'll have to use that now.

[Dianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lame.

[Pamela Rabon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a mystery. it was a lot better then I thought it would be.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Publishers Weekly
This debut novel by a publishing insider reads like a pallid imitation of Susan
Isaacs, complete with a pampered Jewish housewife as sleuth. Alison Waxman Koff and her affluent husband live by the credo of Wall Street 's Gordon Gecko- ­ "greed is good"- -but their financial assets in upscale Layton, Conn., vanish in the crash of '87. Alison must do without her shopping trips, her manicures and eventually her husband, who returns to his first wife. Heavily in debt, she takes a job doing what she knows best: cleaning house. She becomes a maid for Melanie
Moloney, a vitriolic, odious writer of sleazy biographies who is currently engaged in exposing the sins of Layton's leading citizen, a former Hollywood actor and U.S. senator. When Melanie is murdered, the inept local constabulary ignores the lengthy list of suspects and arrest Alison, who fights back with some unique weapons- -even enlisting the aid of her loathsome mother. Heller's pursuit of
humor is relentlessly heavy-handed, and her onslaught of lame wisecracks combines with stereotypical characters to further subvert her unsurprising story.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

A twice divorced, older, not skinny, Jewish woman, isn't the usual choice for a heroine. I enjoyed this mystery/romance set in Connecticut. When her husband loses all of their money in the stck market crash and leaves her to return to his first wife, Alison needs to find a way to pay the bills until she can sell her house in the depressed real estate market. She takes a job as a housekeeper to the author of tell all biographies, who ends up murdered. And is her unlikely hero really a hero? or does he like everyone else want to know what is in the missing manuscript.

[Kerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cha Cha Cha was an interesting read, to say the least. The narrator gave readers an intimate look at how people in the 1% feel and think about the rest of their surroundings. The book was a bit fast paced, with months flying by at the turn of a page, with little to no acknowledgement of it. It was a well written novel, although there were some instances of superfluous information, and things seemingly happening for no reason, just because the author thought it would make a good addition to the storyline.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out much better than it ended. In fact the first 2/3 to 3/4 of the book was great, but then it took a turn towards: "Sorry, author -- you didn't sell me on that twist" and never recovered. Just a little too pat of an ending and a couple of really stupid plot twists kept this from being a hilarious and witty book. Not a waste of time by any means, but it had the potential to be a "must read".

[Graceann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jane Heller's debut novel - Alison Waxman Koff loses everything, including her husband, in the crash of 1987, and has to go to work cleaning houses in order to make ends meet. One of her first employers is an obnoxious harpy who writes tell-all biographies, and who turns up dead. Alison becomes suspect and sleuth, and Heller's literary career is off to a flying start.

[LJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

CHA CHA CHA - Okay
Heller, Jane - Standalone

When Alison Waxman Koff's husband loses everything in the stock market crash and leaves her for his first wife, she is forced to fall back on her only marketable skill--house cleaning. Her job as a maid leads to murder, mayhem and romance, with hilarious results.

Only okay, good humor, badly-written sex scenes, very light.

[Debb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story of one woman dealing with the CRASH of stock market, marriage, life in upscale CT. Love and survival sometimes clash with life and escaping charges of murder, as Alison searches for herself.

[Puty · Rating 3 out of 5]

easy, and entertaining.

"quick! a joke!"

[Pam]

I don't remember who recommended this, but I enjoyed reading it. The mystery was too easily solved.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book. Good beach read

[Jean Galloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally love love this book

[Brenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is similar in style to the Stephanie Plum books, but more poorly written. A couple sex scenes I could have done without. Skip this one!

[Verna Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book. not a bore to read :)

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good modern/contemporary love story/mystery.
Values in life.
Divorce.
Live on boat.
Long Island Sound in Ct.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't stop a book once I start so I finished it...somewhat entertaining

[Susy Barnett]

Good summer read.

[Roxanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not her best, but entertaining.

[Mel]

stopped on page 33. too boring to read!!!