A Charlotte LaRue Mystery Series

In New Orleans' historic Garden District, life is all about attending the right parties, impressing the right people, and making the right amount of money (a lot!) It's an attitude fifty-nine-year-old Charlotte La Rue has never really understood. She leads a quiet, simple, practical life--and it suits her just fine. Business is booming at her housecleaning service, Maid-for-a-Day--and in her down time, she loves reading mystery novels and hanging out with her parakeet, Sweety Boy. Everything's perfect. Well, almost everything.  .  . Charlotte doesn't mind polishing silver, scrubbing toilets, or dusting bookcases--but she can't stand dealing with her rich clients' dirty laundry. And when it comes to the much-talked-about Dubuisson family, there's an awful lot of it--especially since Jackson Dubuisson was found murdered in his study. Now this exclusive enclave is abuzz with all kinds of gossip--and some very sinister speculation. A chatty socialite keeps hinting that Jackson's extra-marital affair may have been the death of him. His mother-in-law--who's quite possibly senile--has revealed more of the Dubuisson family's secrets than Charlotte ever wanted to know. And then there's his widow, Jeanne. Charlotte refuses to desert her in her time of need--but suspects she may have something to hide. One thing is certain: someone wanted Jackson dead--and that someone is not coming clean.  .  . Surrounded by possible suspects and hounded by a tenacious police detective, Charlotte wishes she could stick to her own policy of staying out of clients' personal business. Problem is, she's never been able to walk away from a mess. And this is the biggest one she's ever seen.  .  .

Between running her maid service (the successful Maid-for-a-Day) and fretting about her upcoming birthday (the dreaded 6-0), Charlotte LaRue doesn't have much time for gossip. But New Orleans's latest dust-up is hard to ignore--especially since it involves Marian Hebert, one of Charlotte's new clients. Turns out Marian's now-deceased husband once worked for his best friend Drew Bergeron's real-estate agency--and when the business deal soured, so did the friendship. The whole sordid affair came to an unfortunate end when Drew died in a plane crash--and Bill Hebert was killed in what some people insist on calling an accident. Others are convinced it was murder. Pretty juicy stuff, right? Charlotte doesn't think so. She's trying her best to forget all the rumors--she has more important things to worry about these days. Like vacuuming, window-washing. . .and her new job at the old Devilier house. The gorgeous historic home is being transformed into luxury apartments, and Maid-for-a-Day is in charge of the cleanup. Should be easy enough, Charlotte thinks--until she finds a barely-cold corpse in one of the closets. The police are sure the dead man is Drew Bergeron. Funny, considering Drew supposedly died years ago--and Charlotte distinctly remembers attending his funeral. Talk about messy. Suddenly all that gossip about the Heberts and Bergerons seems incredibly timely--and Charlotte wishes she'd listened just a little bit closer. . . With old rivalries flaring--and past secrets suddenly back in the present--Charlotte has a feeling this job will involve some real dirty work. Good thing she has a knack for cleaning up crimes. . .

There's a case of spring-cleaning fever going around New Orleans's historic Garden District, and it's keeping Charlotte LaRue--proprietor of Maid-for-a-Day--plenty busy. Especially when what's supposed to be a simple housecleaning job ends in a grim discovery--and things start to get real dirty real fast... Charlotte has just about had it with her sister Madeline. She's put up with her simpering sibling's selfish demands and snide comments for years, but when Maddie turns on her own son and his new bride, Charlotte's really steamed. She thinks Daniel and Nadia make a beautiful couple--and Nadia's little boy is just as cute as can be. And now that Nadia's abusive ex-boyfriend seems to be out of the picture--no one's seen the cad in ages--the new family's future looks as bright as a freshly Windex-ed mirror. But years of polishing, scrubbing, and dusting have taught Charlotte that it's only a matter of time before things get messy. Sure enough, when she pays a visit to a wealthy client's lavish mansion, an urn breaks open--and human bones spill out. A little snooping turns up a driver's license belonging to Nadia's no-good ex. Could the bones be his, too? Before she knows it, Charlotte's up to her elbows in the kind of dirty business that doesn't pay the bills... "Full of warm southern charm, this one's a good way to fight the winter doldrums." --Publishers Weekly "Interesting characters and a suspenseful mystery combine for an enjoyable and surprising novel." --Romantic Times

Running Maid for a Day keeps Charlotte La Rue plenty busy. But her latest job involves more than dusting and mopping. She's got to contend with a feuding gardening club--and things certainly aren't coming up roses. . . The summer's off to a sweltering start, and one of her best clients has just up and moved--leaving a big chunk of free time in Charlotte's normally hectic schedule. But the empty spot on Charlotte's client list is soon filled by gardening enthusiast Mimi Adams. Mimi's planning to host the next meeting of the tony Horticultural Heritage Society--and she wants Charlotte to be there. Charlotte's not sure what to expect. Some gardening chat, sure;lots of good gossip, definitely--but these ladies have their claws out. There's talk of extra-marital affairs (did Mimi really sleep with her friend Rita's husband?) and a bitter argument over the club's presidential election (Mimi won--but was it rigged?) A few days later, Mimi's dead. The doctor says she was poisoned. But who planted it, and where? Was it in the bitter brownies Mimi munched at the meeting? Or in the red wine she sipped later? From Mimi's resentful "friends" and neighbors to her scheming husband, Charlotte has a whole plot full of suspects to weed through. . .so she'd better start digging. . . "Charlotte is an appealing character."--Romantic Times

As owner of Maid for a Day, Charlotte LaRue is cleaning up New Orleans house by house. When it comes to hired help, she's the best there is, especially if murder runs in the family. . . Though she's short two employees, Charlotte answers a desperate plea the weekend before Mardi Gras. A woman named Emily Rossi is hosting a huge bash for out-of-town guests, and just lost her maid to a family emergency. And Charlotte soon learns why. Emily's husband, Robert, just happens to be the most ruthless crime boss in the country. Nevertheless, Charlotte agrees to help at the Rossi family's costume ball when one of the servers comes down with the flu. She's beginning to think that the party is a cover for Robert's illegal activities, when the man himself is found dead in the library. The case seems cut-and-dried--to anyone but Charlotte, that is. Although Emily looks guilty as sin, Charlotte has seen enough of the Rossi family's dirty laundry to suspect everyone. But she'd better tread carefully if she doesn't want to spend Fat Tuesday in the bayou, sleeping with the catfish. . . Praise for Barbara Colley and her Charlotte LaRue Mysteries! "Thoroughly enjoyable." --Mystery Scene "An appealingly down-to-earth sleuth. Fans of Southern cozies will enjoy." --Library Journal ". . .Charlotte LaRue will dust her way into readers' hearts. . ." --Publishers Weekly

Doing a favor for a friend in need has Charlotte cleaning rooms at the New Orleans Jazzy Hotel. The historic Garden District mansion is serving as a home-away-from-home for Shreveport's chapter of the Red Scarf Sorority, a group of socially elite women in their forties. While picking up beautiful red silk scarves from the floor of a room she's cleaning, Charlotte is startled by the sudden arrival of its ranting and raving occupant. Charlotte is stunned into silence, until the Red Scarf Sorority comes to the rescue. The women manage to calm Tessa Morgan, who just had a run-in with her estranged husband's much younger mistress Lisa. The next day, Charlotte gets back to work, only to learn that Lisa has been murdered, strangled by what could have been a red scarf. Now it's time for Charlotte to start scouring through clues before the person who rubbed out Lisa makes a clean getaway. . .

As the saying goes, "No good deed goes unpunished." Charlotte LaRue knows she should take a broom and chase Joyce Thibodeaux off her front porch. Once married to Charlotte's tenant Louis Thibodeaux, Joyce is fresh out of detox and has no place to go. She pulls on Charlotte's heartstrings. . .and soon she's staying in Charlotte's guest room. Charlotte survived Hurricane Katrina, but Joyce proves to be an ill wind of a different kind. Charlotte knows she has to show Joyce the door, but she never gets the chance. Instead her beloved parakeet Sweety Boy vanishes, her living room gets trashed, and Joyce ends up in the middle of the mess. . .stone cold dead. Now Charlotte is on the list of murder suspects along with Louis, who's been out of town on business. . .or has he? Finding the answers means doing a little snooping herself. Grabbing her mop she's starting with the hospital where Joyce last stayed: a place with skeletons in its closets and a bucket full of clues that just might lead to a killer. . .

When a big Hollywood movie studio comes to New Orleans and wants to use Bitsy Duhe's gorgeous Victorian house for a shoot, Bitsy consents--as long as Charlotte La Rue, owner of Maid for a Day, agrees to take care of her beloved home during filming. . . Soon Charlotte meets the cast and crew, including Hollywood ingénue Angel Martinique. The movie seems to be going well--until a body is found dead in Angel's dressing room, a bloody letter opener just a few feet away. To Charlotte, there's no shortage of suspects. But when the police zero in on Angel, Charlotte does a little digging into Angel's past, and comes up with a bit more dirt than she bargained for--enough to put her in the crosshairs of danger if she doesn't watch her step. . . "Leaves the reader wanting more." --Romantic Times "This cozy series gets better with each book." --Library Journal