Review: Random Acts of Murder, by Christy Barritt

Random Acts of Murder, by Christy BarrittRandom Acts of Murder, by Christy Barritt (River Heights Press, 2014)

Having only a year to live affects a person’s choices. Social worker Holly Paladin knows she can’t change the world, but she can make a difference for a few people – even if her random acts of kindness could get her in a heap of trouble.

Case in point: she breaks into a client’s empty home to clean it. The occupant is a single mom, overworked, underpaid, and out of hope. Won’t a surprise cleaning job give her a boost?

We’ll never know, because as well as a mess, Holly finds a dead body. She flees in panic, but now her cleaning supplies, and maybe her fingerprints, are present at a crime scene.

Afraid to confess to the police and bring scandal on her exemplary family, Holly lives in fear of being found out. The murderer has already found her out, and starts leaving identical cleaning supplies at the scene of his next murders. “The Good Deeds Killer” has been born.

Holly’s family love her but don’t understand her. Her good friend, Jamie, does both. And Chase Dexter, who humiliated her in high school but who claims he’s changed, seems to understand her too. Which may be a bad thing, since he’s the detective assigned to the case.

Favourite lines:

She was tiny and blonde and wore expensive business suits and handed out her business card with all the ease of a little kid spreading the flu. [Holly describing her mom. Kindle location 366.]

Maybe being alone outside wasn’t the smartest idea after being shot at twice, but I refused to live in total fear. Partial would have to do. [Kindle location 1437.]

I had forgotten how much I enjoy Christy Barritt’s sense of humour. She’s the author of the Squeaky Clean Mystery series and other novels, and she’s so prolific that I’ve fallen behind with her books. I definitely want to read the next one in this series, Random Acts of Deceit. For more about the author and her books, visit www.christybarritt.com.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

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