What do you think?
Rate this book
Charlie Greene #1
Murder at Moot Point
Hollywood agent Charlie Greene gets tangled up in a world of holistic intervention, out-of-body experiences, and murder in this thrilling paranormal mystery.
Hollywood literary agent and single mother Charlie Greene heads out of town to fog-bound Moot Point, Oregon, to meet a client, reclusive New Age author Jack Monroe. But Charlie barely has time to sample a veggie meal and bond with Jack’s bronze Buddha statue before she runs into Local gossip Georgette Glick and her Schwinn bicycle have just been found under the wheels of Charlie’s Toyota—which makes Charlie the prime suspect in Georgette’s murder.
Luckily, Moot Point Sheriff Bennett discovers that Glick was shot, not run over, so Charlie is in the clear. But there are still too many unanswered questions. Who delivered the fatal bullet to Glick’s head? And why was the seventy-eight-year-old riding her bike on a night with zero visibility in the first place? Alongside Sheriff Bennett, whose interest in Charlie seems decidedly more than professional, she resolves to find the murderer among the town’s eccentrics, who include the suspiciously non-grieving widower, a holistic veterinarian, the victim’s terrified neighbor, and a Byronic artist whose painting of a century-old local shipwreck matches the one in Charlie’s recent nightmares. With the killer still at large, Charlie may be tempting an out-of-body experience of her own in this quirky and suspenseful novel.
Hollywood literary agent and single mother Charlie Greene heads out of town to fog-bound Moot Point, Oregon, to meet a client, reclusive New Age author Jack Monroe. But Charlie barely has time to sample a veggie meal and bond with Jack’s bronze Buddha statue before she runs into Local gossip Georgette Glick and her Schwinn bicycle have just been found under the wheels of Charlie’s Toyota—which makes Charlie the prime suspect in Georgette’s murder.
Luckily, Moot Point Sheriff Bennett discovers that Glick was shot, not run over, so Charlie is in the clear. But there are still too many unanswered questions. Who delivered the fatal bullet to Glick’s head? And why was the seventy-eight-year-old riding her bike on a night with zero visibility in the first place? Alongside Sheriff Bennett, whose interest in Charlie seems decidedly more than professional, she resolves to find the murderer among the town’s eccentrics, who include the suspiciously non-grieving widower, a holistic veterinarian, the victim’s terrified neighbor, and a Byronic artist whose painting of a century-old local shipwreck matches the one in Charlie’s recent nightmares. With the killer still at large, Charlie may be tempting an out-of-body experience of her own in this quirky and suspenseful novel.
- GenresMystery
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
16 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Marlys Millhiser
22 books111 followersMarlys Millhiser is an American author of fifteen mysteries and horror novels. Born in Charles City, Iowa, Millhiser originally worked as a high school teacher. She has served as a regional vice president of the Mystery Writers of America and is best known for her novel The Mirror and for the Charlie Greene Mysteries. Millhiser lived in Boulder, Colorado.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 16, 2015
How glad I am that Open Road Media is re-releasing this charming debut in a series about the misadventures of an unfortunate literary agent and single mom, Charlie Greene! Charlie, heroine of Murder at Moot Point, proves infectiously likable, and readers will chuckle as she repeatedly evades the sheriff and his deputies in order to conduct her own investigation into a murder.
Charlie has come to Moot Point, Oregon, a New Age haven, in order to conduct some business with a new client for her firm, Condon and Morse, a small agency located in Beverly Hills. Moot Point, with its dream interpreters, New Age shops, and cult-like New Age conference center, differs considerably from the Hollywood deals with which Charlie is familiar. On top of that, someone has shot a local woman, Georgette Glick, and moved her under Charlie’s car. With herself as the prime suspect, Charlie decides that she can’t leave the investigation just to the slow-moving Moot Point sheriff, whom Charlie describes as as “the most unsherifflike sheriff in the country.”
Readers will adore the quick-thinking Charlie and sympathize with over her relationships with her hypercritical mother and teenage daughter. In addition, author Marlys Millhiser creates wonderful secondary characters in the form of the other denizens of Moot Point. Although the novel was first released in 1992, except for the absence of faxes and cell phones, readers would never guess that Murder at Moot Point wasn’t written in the 21st century. Millhiser crafts an engrossing mystery, and the ending caught me completely by surprise. I can’t wait to read Death of the Office Witch, the second in this wonderful series. I hope that Open Road Media follows through and releases all of the Charlie Greene books in the Kindle format.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media in exchange for an honest review.
Charlie has come to Moot Point, Oregon, a New Age haven, in order to conduct some business with a new client for her firm, Condon and Morse, a small agency located in Beverly Hills. Moot Point, with its dream interpreters, New Age shops, and cult-like New Age conference center, differs considerably from the Hollywood deals with which Charlie is familiar. On top of that, someone has shot a local woman, Georgette Glick, and moved her under Charlie’s car. With herself as the prime suspect, Charlie decides that she can’t leave the investigation just to the slow-moving Moot Point sheriff, whom Charlie describes as as “the most unsherifflike sheriff in the country.”
Readers will adore the quick-thinking Charlie and sympathize with over her relationships with her hypercritical mother and teenage daughter. In addition, author Marlys Millhiser creates wonderful secondary characters in the form of the other denizens of Moot Point. Although the novel was first released in 1992, except for the absence of faxes and cell phones, readers would never guess that Murder at Moot Point wasn’t written in the 21st century. Millhiser crafts an engrossing mystery, and the ending caught me completely by surprise. I can’t wait to read Death of the Office Witch, the second in this wonderful series. I hope that Open Road Media follows through and releases all of the Charlie Greene books in the Kindle format.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media in exchange for an honest review.
August 9, 2019
Charlie Greene is a much-harried literary agent, recently relocated to LA, who has driven up the Oregon coast to check out a new client. She's in the land of New Age woo-woo bullshit, and while she's at her client's New Age woo-woo bullshit store, trying to suss him out, a man comes barging in, demanding to know why Charlie ran over his wife.
Thus begins our tale. The local sheriff doesn't really believe that Charlie killed this person - especially when it is revealed that she'd been shot, not run over - so instead of hauling her off to jail, he confiscates her car and takes her to her motel room to stay. Only this is a tiny village, easy to get around via walking, and Charlie sets out to clear her name.
The village is small and insular, full of quirky characters with varying degrees of belief in the New Age woo-woo bullshit that surrounds them. Charlie stumbles around, trying to figure out who could've wanted to kill a 78-year-old woman with bad eyesight who was supposedly riding a bike without a light in super-dense fog. Meanwhile, she's also being haunted by nightmares of a local historic landmark of a shipwreck, and starting to wonder if there isn't something to all that New Age woo-woo bullshit after all...
This was pretty cute, the only book that's lived up to the promise of the writing from the short story in the Murder, They Wrote collection. I definitely LOLed a couple of times. The end didn't really live up to the promise of the beginning, though. It was pretty awesome that it was the only female deputy in the county that busted the case, though.
I'll continue with this series if my library has any more of the books. I liked it enough to read but not enough to own.
Thus begins our tale. The local sheriff doesn't really believe that Charlie killed this person - especially when it is revealed that she'd been shot, not run over - so instead of hauling her off to jail, he confiscates her car and takes her to her motel room to stay. Only this is a tiny village, easy to get around via walking, and Charlie sets out to clear her name.
The village is small and insular, full of quirky characters with varying degrees of belief in the New Age woo-woo bullshit that surrounds them. Charlie stumbles around, trying to figure out who could've wanted to kill a 78-year-old woman with bad eyesight who was supposedly riding a bike without a light in super-dense fog. Meanwhile, she's also being haunted by nightmares of a local historic landmark of a shipwreck, and starting to wonder if there isn't something to all that New Age woo-woo bullshit after all...
This was pretty cute, the only book that's lived up to the promise of the writing from the short story in the Murder, They Wrote collection. I definitely LOLed a couple of times. The end didn't really live up to the promise of the beginning, though. It was pretty awesome that it was the only female deputy in the county that busted the case, though.
I'll continue with this series if my library has any more of the books. I liked it enough to read but not enough to own.
May 19, 2025
Found a signed copy dedicated to Marlys mother and was so excited to read this! Had no clue it was published in 1992, so I will start by saying I was imagining everything as if it was 2025.
The story was cute. It was slow. Very slow. I read four books last week and just this one this week slow. I couldn’t get into it. Once I did, I still felt the story was slow and I was confused on what was happening often. But I’m glad I finished it. It was interesting, definitely not the ending I was expecting. While it’s not my first recommendation, I did enjoy the book and “Charlie’s troubles” 💕
The story was cute. It was slow. Very slow. I read four books last week and just this one this week slow. I couldn’t get into it. Once I did, I still felt the story was slow and I was confused on what was happening often. But I’m glad I finished it. It was interesting, definitely not the ending I was expecting. While it’s not my first recommendation, I did enjoy the book and “Charlie’s troubles” 💕
September 18, 2022
This plot was a little too crazy and off base for me to enjoy totally. But, I'm just way nosy and can't stand not to know the whole story so I read the whole book. I did laugh when Charley Greene a book agent, pulls into a small town to get one of her clients to sign a contract and finds herself immediately the prime subject of murder. She also finds out that everyone in the town is writing a book and wants her as an agent. If it had moved along a little faster it would have been a lot better.
February 21, 2019
This nicely plotted mystery was a fun read. And who could resist that lovely, punny title? It was a little slow moving in spots and had perhaps a few too many characters, but overall very good. I'll definitely read the next book in the series.
June 16, 2019
Pacing is a little rough in spots, but good story.
July 9, 2025
First time reading this author . Good story, Will have to find the rest of them.
May 11, 2015
My Thoughts
Charlie Greene, a Hollywood agent, travels to Moot Point, Oregon, to track down a client who hasn't been replying to her mail. Shortly after arriving, she is surprised to find a dead woman beneath her car. With all the clues pointing her way, Charlie knows that she's the only one convinced that she's innocent. And who else to gather as much information as possible to smoke out the real killer.
“Quirky” definitely fits, though I'm not sure that “suspenseful” does. And that's OK by me. Murder at Moot Point is a cozy mystery and I never expect them to be suspenseful. I do expect appealing characters, interesting plots, and a story that moves along at a reasonable clip. Marlys Millhiser delivered all of these in this first of the Charlie Green mysteries.
A small criticism was that the story seemed to bounce around a bit—as did Charlie—gathering up lots of tidbits of gossip in an attempt to pull together enough clues to identify the killer and the motive. At times this got a little bit distracting as did the romantic encounter with the sheriff. But these are minor complaints about a book that was enjoyable enough that I'll be borrowing the next in the series from my local library.
Charlie Greene, a Hollywood agent, travels to Moot Point, Oregon, to track down a client who hasn't been replying to her mail. Shortly after arriving, she is surprised to find a dead woman beneath her car. With all the clues pointing her way, Charlie knows that she's the only one convinced that she's innocent. And who else to gather as much information as possible to smoke out the real killer.
“Quirky” definitely fits, though I'm not sure that “suspenseful” does. And that's OK by me. Murder at Moot Point is a cozy mystery and I never expect them to be suspenseful. I do expect appealing characters, interesting plots, and a story that moves along at a reasonable clip. Marlys Millhiser delivered all of these in this first of the Charlie Green mysteries.
A small criticism was that the story seemed to bounce around a bit—as did Charlie—gathering up lots of tidbits of gossip in an attempt to pull together enough clues to identify the killer and the motive. At times this got a little bit distracting as did the romantic encounter with the sheriff. But these are minor complaints about a book that was enjoyable enough that I'll be borrowing the next in the series from my local library.
October 7, 2012
Love the title of this book. The story is about murder at Moot Point, Oregon.
Charlie Green (female) is a book agent. She is sent to the town to check out a relative of one of
her clients who has a book draft for her to check out. It is a dark and foggy night when she arrives in Moot Point. A woman's body and her cruched bike are found under Charlie's car. No one, especially the attractive sheriff, can believe she would run over a woman and not feel it. Then it is discovered the woman had been shot...why would Charlie shoot her. A gun is found with Charlie's fingerprints on it and Charlie doesn't own a gun, so how did her fingerprints get on the gun?
Moot Point is a town truly filled with unique characters and many of the them are involved in New Age activities.
Charlie decides to prove that she is innocent. For some reason she is never offically charged with this crime. The sheriff tells her to stay put in her motel room, but Charlie roams all over town getting to know people and trying to decide who the murderer might be and why the lady was
murdered. Instead of solving the murder, there are more crimes that she discovers.
The story rambles around a bit and you always wonder why Charlie was never put under arrest if she really is a suspect in all these crimes.
Charlie Green (female) is a book agent. She is sent to the town to check out a relative of one of
her clients who has a book draft for her to check out. It is a dark and foggy night when she arrives in Moot Point. A woman's body and her cruched bike are found under Charlie's car. No one, especially the attractive sheriff, can believe she would run over a woman and not feel it. Then it is discovered the woman had been shot...why would Charlie shoot her. A gun is found with Charlie's fingerprints on it and Charlie doesn't own a gun, so how did her fingerprints get on the gun?
Moot Point is a town truly filled with unique characters and many of the them are involved in New Age activities.
Charlie decides to prove that she is innocent. For some reason she is never offically charged with this crime. The sheriff tells her to stay put in her motel room, but Charlie roams all over town getting to know people and trying to decide who the murderer might be and why the lady was
murdered. Instead of solving the murder, there are more crimes that she discovers.
The story rambles around a bit and you always wonder why Charlie was never put under arrest if she really is a suspect in all these crimes.
September 28, 2015
Moot Point Oregon is full of odd characters. Charlie Green goes there on a foggy night to sign a new author for a publishing company she works for. Within a very short time a body is found under her car and a crumpled bike near by. What happened, who is framing her and why? A real thriller! How did I miss this book when it came out in 1992? I'm glad I found it.
April 29, 2008
A fun romp in the Pacific Northwest, in a town full of new-agers. I picked this book because of its "punny" title, and the author manages to restrict herself to only two uses of the obvious fun-poking pun throughout the book. A quirky not-quite romance, and I did enjoy it.
August 14, 2010
Pleasant if small read; a few chuckles.
Not, I admit, as insignificant as I suspected when, by error, I got it at the library.
Not, I admit, as insignificant as I suspected when, by error, I got it at the library.
April 6, 2015
Enjoyed this series. It is nice that they are republished so the author can get new fans.
June 1, 2015
Surprised this was originally published in the 90s - it felt way more 70s or 80s. It's not great - too long, too byzantine - but not the worst thing ever, either.
August 3, 2015
Very good mystery
This book was a very good mystery, but a little wordy. It seemed to take a long while to get anywhere and became repetitious. I did enjoy reading it anyway.
This book was a very good mystery, but a little wordy. It seemed to take a long while to get anywhere and became repetitious. I did enjoy reading it anyway.
August 4, 2015
I liked the story. It was a little hard to read - needed some editing.
February 6, 2017
Quirky but not ridiculous characters and an author with a really funny, clever way with words. Glad this is a series.
January 6, 2022
Somewhat choppy and a little simplistic. Not encouraged to read another by this author.
April 9, 2017
Rambling tale. Never became that interested in any of the characters.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews