For a cozy, this book actually has quite a complicated mystery with a few surprises. A solid "thumbs up" despite Charlotte doing more than one really stupid thing in her enthusiasm to help her client outside the range of a professional organizer.

Both book 1 and 2 in this series (the only 2 I have read so far) feature characters with brain damage or mental disability since I don't recall actually being told what the character in this book actually has. It's unusual and makes me wonder if the author has someone in her life with the disability to feature it twice in a row. It fit in well in the first book and doesn't really impact this story much other than to, perhaps, explain why one character doesn't seem to be questioned. Again, as I mentioned in my review of the first book, we're not privy to much (just a couple sentences here) the real cops are doing in terms of investigation.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

The Cluttered Corpse is the 2nd book in the Charlotte Adams cozy mystery series. Charlotte has a business helping people get organized and getting rid of clutter. Her client Emmy Lou needs to reduce her stuffed animal collection. Really? Emmy Lou is married and lives in a house with odd neighbors. Almost everyone has secrets which are divulged as the story progresses. One of Emmy Lou's neighbors ends up dead and Emmy Lou is the prime suspect. The characters are likable and the friendship between Charlotte, Sally, Jack, Lileth and Rose adds to the story. The ending was a surprise with an added character. This was an enjoyable cozy mystery. #NetGalley #TheClutteredCorpse
#BeyondThePageBooks

This is the second book in the Charlotte Adams Professional Organizer Mystery series. I enjoyed it every bit as much as the first one. Getting to know Charlotte and her friends a little more was a lot of fun. There are short tips for better organization at the beginning of each chapter. Charlotte is hired to help a client organize an unbelievable amount of stuffed animals. Before they can get started, the client confesses to murder. Charlotte doesn't believe that her client is guilty. She enlists the help of her friends to help her prove that her client is innocent. Is she right about her client? Will she be able to find the truth before anyone else gets hurt? The characters are genuine and relatable. I can't wait to learn more about Charlotte and her friends. They make me smile.

Action packed story filled with details and hints that will lead to the unraveling of the plot.
The author keeps the flow of the story entertaining and guessing what is behind the events happening.

Huge fan of this series. I suggest reading your first in the series for some background though these can stand alone. An asset to the cozy mystery genre, Mary Jane Maffini has a knack for the quaint. I’d only say to update some of the hints … a few seem dated. That’s my only somewhat of a complaint.

This is the second book in the series and I read it because I enjoyed the first book very much. The second did not disappoint. Happy things are starting to thaw between her and Pepper. I love Charlotte's network of friends. This was a fun story and an enjoyable read.

I like cozy mysteries. I am not a big fan of the protagonist-is-disliked-by-the-police trope. But in this case, I understood how the police felt. Charlotte Adams is one of my least favorite protagonists ever. I found myself actively hoping she would suffer some horrible catastrophe and one of the other characters would take over the story.

The mystery serves as a plot device for Charlotte to come up with a lot of scenarios, but I didn't really care about the resolution.

All-in-all not a book I enjoyed.

On her first visit to her new client’s immaculate home, professional organizer Charlotte Adams can’t imagine why she’s been called in to help—until the woman reveals her outrageously large collection of stuffed animals. But before Charlotte can even begin to tame the plush menagerie, a nasty neighbor who’s been making her client a nervous wreck is found murdered, and her client has confessed to the crime! This story felt so familiar and the reason is that it is a edited and updated version of the same story written back in 2008ish. This whole series is really delightful and fun and there were parts where I actually laughed out loud so I am happy this series may be getting a revival. It's a quick and fun read. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

On her first visit to her new client’s immaculate home, professional organizer Charlotte Adams can’t imagine why she’s been called in to help—until the woman reveals her outrageously large collection of stuffed animals. But before Charlotte can even begin to tame the plush menagerie, a nasty neighbor who’s been making her client a nervous wreck is found murdered, and her client has confessed to the crime!
This is a fun series and Charlotte is very relatable. I like that she is a professional organizer as it is something different. The mystery wasn’t hard to figure out but well written.
#TheClutteredCorpse #NetGalley

I remember reading a couple of the books in this series back in “real paper book” days, shortly after they came out, and I have pleasant, if somewhat vague, memories of them. So I was pleased to receive an advance review copy of the new e-book edition of The Cluttered Corpse, which features protagonist Charlotte Adams as a “Marie Kondo” – even before the real Marie Kondo hit it big in the early 2010s. And overall, with a couple of minor issues, I enjoyed this book, which is the second in the series.

First, the good! Author Mary Jane Maffini has had a great idea for a protagonist in a mystery series: a professional organizer is, by necessity, going to be traipsing in and out of clients’ homes and getting a look at their stuff – and potentially their secrets. An organizer also needs to be logical, which can help with figuring out details of a case, and seems to need to be as much a psychologist as an actual cleaner-upper, which can help with motives. So it was fun to watch Charlotte as she applied her skills and resources to figuring out how a neighborhood lout came to be found dead in her newest client’s house. And even more puzzling, why was that client insisting vociferously that she herself was guilty?

On the down side, I struggled a bit with some of the characters in the book, including Charlotte’s. With a career that could probably get her involved with a murder in many ways, having her push (even bully) her way into her newest client’s life on only a few minutes acquaintance seemed a little off to me. And I also had trouble with her relationship with her former best friend and current Detective Sergeant, Pepper Monahan. Although we all have that friend who married someone the rest of us can’t stand, it still didn’t work for me. I may have missed some back story from the first book in the series that would help, but as it was, I was just frustrated with that relationship.

OTOH, the clean-up tips were priceless and worth a few chuckles, and I really appreciated Charlotte’s attention to the unstated needs of her clients, beyond just getting cleaned up and organized. I’ve haven’t read Marie Kondo’s book, but I sort of have the feeling that if I read all five books in Maffini’s series, I might not need to!

All-in-all, this was a fun book, and I’ll keep an eye out for more titles in the series to become available in e-book. But I did knock it down a couple of stars for my struggles with the characters, and I hope they get more a little more believable in later titles. Please keep in mind that since I'm not super generous with stars, this is still a "read" recommendation, though. And my thanks to Beyond the Page Publishing and NetGalley for the review copy!

This is a fully revised and updated edition of a book originally published in 2008.
I am so glad this series found a new publisher. I somehow missed reading it previously, and it was a treat.
I liked this even more than the first one.
Great characters and a whodunit that kept me guessing and had some great twists!
I will definitely read further books in this series.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

When you are arrested for murder, especially if you confessed first, it's always good to have someone on your side. Enter Charlotte Adams who just can't help herself when anyone she knows gets themselves into any kind of trouble. After all, she is a professional organizer so who better to take centre stage and ask all those questions Charlotte thinks the police aren't able to.

Emmy-Lou has a bit of a soft toy problem. Her house is magazine beautiful until you get half way up the stairs and then the plushies start to appear and an amazed Charlotte realises there are thousands of them. As an organizer nothing should matter except the happiness of a contented customer but even she is hard pushed to work out how to achieve that this time.

As everything begins to get confusing it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems. There's a dead body to deal with but that's the least of Charlotte's problems as her friends are in danger, her business is struggling and, worst of all, she has no idea who to blame.

Charlotte Adams is an original main protagonist, an organizer who has moments when she is anything but! Mary Jane Maffini has once again written an interesting twisty and turny novel with nothing in the first few chapters to indicate how it would end. There is a core group of characters who have moved seamlessly from book one to book two and I am looking forward to what happens to them all next.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the opinions expressed are my own. I thoroughly enjoyed this cosy crime novel, it is a good summer read.

The Cluttered Corpse
By Mary Jane Maffini

Charlotte Adam’s business is picking up after being a suspect for murder. Emmy Lou Rheinbeck had asked Charlotte to organize her stuffed animal collection. When the meeting starts they are startled by a neighbor boy making funny faces in her bedroom window. That’s when Emmy Lou ends the meeting with Charlotte. Emmy Lou tells her the are just pranksters but Charlotte feels differently. When a dead body shows up on Emmy Lou’s lawn, Charlotte must deal with the chaos and navigate the neighborhood the death has brought. She must find the killer before she gets rearranged like the clutter she works with.

I received this temp e-book from NetGalley and the publisher for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this fast paced book. I would recommend highly for people that are looking for a light heart mystery with fun characters!!

Another fantastic addition to the series! Completely quirky and entertaining cozy mystery, I can surely see why this series is going to be adapted into a TV show. Excellent storytelling and a mystery that keeps one guessing till the end. I also loved the side-characters and their stories. I am eagerly waiting to see what's next for the group of misfits.

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of THE CLUTTERED CORPSE (Book 2 of the Charlotte Adams Professional Organizer Mysteries) by Mary Jane Maffini in exchange for an honest review. Charlotte is moving on with her life after being accused of murdering one of her clients. Her business is recovering, and some of her clients have returned. Charlotte’s newest project is one of those clients who needs help managing her stuffed toy collection. Charlotte’s first visit to the client’s house is cut short by the shenanigans of teenagers who seem to be tormenting the client. Charlotte’s second visit is greeted with the dead body of one of the boys while her client publicly proclaims responsibility for the death. Local law enforcement happily accepts the woman’s confession, slaps on the handcuffs, and hauls her away to jail. Meanwhile, Charlotte tries to convince the officers that there is no way the woman killed the young man. Charlotte insists the woman must be covering for someone. Ignored by the police and taunted by the media, Charlotte decides that, if the woman is to go free, Charlotte will have to be the one to identify the real murderer. However, hunting a killer is a dangerous affair; the murderer, in return, soon begins hunting Charlotte.

I enjoyed this book. I recommend this novel to fans of cozy mysteries featuring murder, professional organizing, cupcakes, cookies, close-knit friends, rescue dogs, and high school mean-girl drama perpetuated into adulthood.

#TheClutteredCorpse #NetGalley

The Cluttered Corpse by Mary Jane Maffini is the second book in her Charlotte Adams Professional Organizer series. Charlotte Adams seems to have a bad case of "corpse finds." She is working with a client who needs Charlotte to organize her hundreds of stuffed animals. Arriving at her client's house for a meeting it is chaos. Charlotte finds her client in the street shouting that she "killed him." When Charlotte walks into the house she discovers a dead body at the bottom of the staircase. Charlotte was sure that her client was innocent. I really like how Charlotte didn't give up while trying to discover who the murderer was. She didn't hesitate to ask questions. Even threats didn't stop her. I really enjoyed this story and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

I received an ARC in exchange for a honest review.