Closet Confidential By Mary Jane Maffini

Lorelei Beauchamp, Charlotte’s mum’s frenemy reaches out to Charlotte and asks for her professional organizer services. Lorelei’s daughter Anabel was found dead in a construction site six months ago. Charlotte couldn’t attend the funeral as she and her mother were in Paris at that time. When Charlotte visits the Beauchamps, she realizes Anabel’s parents are barely holding up with the loss of their only daughter. Lorelei is in her own world and though she called Charlotte to help with organizing her seven closets, she has no mood or the enthusiasm to get things back to normal. Lorelei tells Charlotte her daughter’s death was no accident.

Meanwhile, Pepper, Charlotte’s friend-turned-foe-turned-friend-again comes to Charlotte’s house in the middle of night asking for help. Pepper believes her husband/police-officer Nick Monahan is acting strange for the past few months and Pepper believes there’s something fishy going on in his life. Did fatherhood change Nick-the-Stick or is it something else? Coincidentally, Nick was the first officer on scene at Anabel’s accident site…

Closet Confidential is the fourth book in Mary Jane Maffini’s Charlotte Adams Professional Organizer Mystery series. A little birdie told me this series is going to be made into a TV show and I cannot wait to watch it! A group of misfits, quirky humor, a whole lot of adventure and mystery with a dash of romance, uh-huh, count me in!

Closet Confidential is a new favorite in this series. I have read the first three books and have liked them all, but Closet Confidential is like, the best of the best. Charlotte has sworn to keep herself away from solving crimes – like that’s ever going to happen! So when Lorelei tells her about Anabel’s death and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it, Charlotte does a little bit of sleuthing – deep down, she believes it is just a motherly instinct that made Lorelei deny her daughter’s death as accidental.

Meanwhile, Pepper and Nick are proud parents of a eight-month-old baby Little Nick. Margaret and detective Frank eloped as the previous book ended – Death Loves a Messy Desk and are now in marital bliss. Sally is busy mothering her four kids while Jack is busy at his high-end cycle store CYCotics. Jack has always loved babies – he and Charlotte get into an argument of sorts where Charlotte is anti-baby while Jack is pro-baby. Also, in the previous book, we saw a rift between the two besties-for-life (Jack and Charlotte) and fast forward to the present (eight months later, that is), they hang out together but the elephant in the room is still… um, chilling on the couch?

Why is this book a new favorite? Well, we have Charlotte trying hard not to solve a mystery – but something terrible happens to one of her friends halfway through and Charlotte is drawn to finding the truth. We also have the blue-eyed-handsome-detective Tierney in the mix. He and Charlotte went on a date eight months ago – and he never called her back… Charlotte thinks that romance fizzled out even before she could say ‘ra-ra-rom-ma-ma-ga-ga-ooh-la-la.’

Throughout the series (the first three books, that is), I have wondered if Jack and Charlotte were more than ‘just friends’. When Charlotte tells Margaret about her one-date with Tierney, Margaret is like ‘What did Jack have to say about this?’ Sally and Pepper too favor Jack – this makes Charlotte wonder why these happily married ladies are worried about her ‘friendship’ with Jack. Oh-oh, Charley, you poor thing. Love is certainly blind and hiding in the closet…

I do not want to give away any spoilers in this review. But I would say, the second half is where all the action, drama and adventure lies. The mystery behind this ‘tragedy’ kept me on the edge of my seat. I hoped Charlotte would find the perp before it is too late – and yes, she did! Thank god! The identity of the perp was a huge shocker – a wolf in sheep’s clothing kinda scenario.

Closet Confidential by Mary Jane Maffini is a mind-blowing, entertaining and completely engrossing cozy mystery. Oh yes, make sure to keep an extra-large tub of your favorite ice cream by your side when you start reading this book. Ice cream is mandatory!

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I received an ARC from Beyond the Page Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.

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