A Pretty Mess: An Astonvale Novel by Australian author Carla Caruso is the 1st in her Astonvale series of chick-lit professional comedic mystery novels (or mysterious comedies, depending on how you look at it) with romantic elements set in the wealthy South Australian suburb of Astonvale, starring Celeste Pretty, owner and organizer-in-chief of a home de-cluttering business, this installment featuring the investigation of a blackmail note found amongst one of her clients' hoarded possessions, free courtesy of publisher HarperCollins Australia's HarperImpulse imprint.
Currently free @
B&N (also in the
UK),
Amazon (available to Canadians and in the
UK),
Kobo &
Google Play (both available to Canadians), and also
iTunes AU (also free for New Zealand, but not North America or UK/Europe as far as I was able to tell from spot-checking).
And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.
A bit by default, since it's been waiting for a free slot in the posting queue for nearly a week now, but also because I like seeing more variety in the subsubsubgenres of stuff we get.
And thus I'm pleased to see a chick-lit with the heroine as her own business-owning entrepreneurial professional, just for a change from the previous batches where it seemed like they were all assistants or subordinate partners of some sort, and also a genre-blending mystery element, which if it turns out to be a non-murder investigative one will be a refreshing change indeed.
Enjoy!
Description
Sometimes, to come clean, you've got to get your hands dirty ...
Celeste Pretty, a self-confessed neat freak, has found the job she was born to do: a professional organiser, de-cluttering people's homes and workplaces. Her new business gets off to a cracking start when she lands her first client, health and fitness guru Natalia Samphire, in the well-heeled suburb of Astonvale. But things get messy at Natalia's mansion when Celeste finds a blackmail note and other mysterious items. And then there's Lenny Muscat, the sexy builder renovating the place, whose constant presence is muddling Celeste's usually organised brain.
When things get decidedly suspicious at the mansion, she and Lenny have to team up to investigate. But will Celeste emerge with her heart and professional reputation unscathed?
This is the first in the Astonvale series.