Maggie has a lot on her plate right from the beginning. Her and her husband and two sons have just arrived at their new home and it’s turned out to be much more of a project to get ready to live in than they thought. While doing a run through to see what needs to be done, they find a dead man in their basement. What a way to say hello to your new neighbors. Their front lawn is soon filled with emergency vehicles and flashing lights.

I’m huge on making lists and enjoy checking it and crossing off the items I’ve accomplished. I need those lists to keep from spinning in circles. Now to remember to take them with me. LOL To say Maggie makes lists is a huge understatement. Her business, Simplicity Itself Organizing Services, is making lists for clients and organizing everything for them. Who would have thought, with so much going wrong right from the first day in their new home, that she might need help herself.

I better not forget to mention the vandalism. It seems someone has targeted Maggie’s new home and is trying to either drive her family out, or burn the place down. The vandalism spreads to her son’s school and it seems to be connected. All trails lead back to home. As vandalism turns to violence, fear and danger escalate. More than hopes of a new life are at stake.

I enjoyed the tips for organizing that Maggie offers at the beginning of each chapter. Not sure I’d ever be that organized, but I’ll be using some and there are others I already do. Good to know I’m not the only one who thinks and thinks again.

There are lots of characters to meet, and while you don’t get to see some of them that often, they are easily recognizable. The author really does a great job of fleshing them out with just a few words here and there about their attitudes and the way they carry themselves. That was wonderful, because I’m huge on character driven stories.

It took me a bit to start adding some people to my own suspect list. One was fairly obvious pretty quickly, but I had a feeling that one was too obvious. I had lots of fun getting to the end and especially enjoyed reading about how the family adjusted and settled in to a new way of life while coping with one thing after another that obstructs their efforts.

Almost forgot to mention, many of the character’s have pets and I found it fun to see what kind each one had. My home is a mix of cats, dogs, and a parrot, and is quite lively and loud.

I’m a quick reader and read this in about two hours. I’d suggest you set aside some time when you start it. You’ll find it quite hard to stop when you do.

Review was declined with respect. Thank you for the opportunity.

Synopsis

screenshot-2017-01-24-22-10-58Addressed to Die is about a family that moves into a favored deceased aunt’s home only to find a dead body inside. This is not the introduction that the family had thought they would receive to their new house, especially since they had inspected the house prior to arriving. While the family, is camping out in the barn, the detectives are conducting an investigation in the house. The move just did not go as planned for professional organizer Maggie McDonald! On top of it her husband’s business calls him out-of-town and Maggie is left to solve the case, get her boys settled in school and repair the house as it is constantly broken into during the investigation. Fortunately, Maggie meets some wonderful neighbors who help her out and get her settled, but what an introduction to a new town.

My Opinion and Rating of 4.8

This was great, an intact family who pulled together while acting like a real family. I know it isn’t exactly grammatically correct, but oh well! I just really enjoyed the book and couldn’t wait for the next book. The characters are wonderfully written and so human! It was just a great read! Well, paced, organized and flowing!