One of my favorite new series is the Dead End job series by Elaine Viets; she does a great job of describing the types of low paying jobs that so many people have done. Shop till you Drop (2003)is one of the earlier books in the series; Helen has only lived in Florida for a few weeks, and has not forged the close friendship with her landlord, Margery, as well as other tenants, but it begins to happen in this book.
Helen left behind her high paying job, nice house, expensive car and clothes--and cheating exhusband--when a judge ordered her to pay half her earnings to Rob at their divorce hearing. She fled St. Louis and ended up in Florida with a suitcase of cash, a few clothes, and settled into a quiet life of working minimum wage jobs. She found a modest furnished apartment at the Coronado, an old apartment building owned by Margery, a tough old woman with a keen eye, lots of brightly colored clothes, and a very big white cadillac.
Helen found a job as a sales clerk in a very exclusive shop: it is so elite that the door is locked to keep out the tourists and riff raff. Only the worthy--the thin and fashionable and wealthy--are admitted through that door by the thin and snobbish manager, Christina, who treats some of the customers as if they were her best girlfriends. She starts to notice some strange things at the shop, and isn't sure what is going on--she overhears some conversations suggesting that Christina is giving customers tips about plastic surgeons, illegal alien maids, and hit men for ex-boyfriends. Then Christina goes on a trip, leaving Helen in charge, and things get really strange....
Helen's budding friendships with her landlord Margery, one of her neighbors, Peggy, and Sarah--a former tenant, seem to be in sharp contrast with the relationships in her former life in St. Louis. She seems to have been a high achieving, hard working woman whose busy life left her little time for friendships, and kept her from seeing her husband's infidelity.
You'll like the series, and you will enjoy this book. You can find Shop Til You Drop in the Large Print area.
c Waterloo Public Library 2009
1 comment:
Thanks, Cherie, for the thoughtful review of the first book in my Dead-End Job series. I'm glad you liked it. There's nothing funny about working long hours for low pay, but Waterloo readers might enjoy Helen's on the job adventures. You're right -- Helen develops close friendships at the Coronado Tropic Apartments as the series progresses. I can't believe book nine, "Half-Price Homicide," just came out this May.
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