While at a community event, pondering whether she and her pooches should become involved with the therapy dogs, Charlotte is approached by Fredelle Newhouse, the office manager of Quovadicon. Fredelle wants to hire Charlotte to help new employee Barb Douglas sort out her desk and clean up her act, but Fredelle wants Charlotte to do this on the QT, so as to avoid embarrassing or angering Barb, who was hired by Quovadicon’s owner. 

When Charlotte arrives at the company’s headquarters, she is greeted by a less than attentive receptionist, who is barely out of high school and can’t stay in college. She meets Dyan, a vicious co-worker who makes no secret of wanting Fredelle’s job and who may be sabotaging Barb’s desk and Robbie, the socially backward son of the company’s owner who either is, or thinks he is, having a relationship with Barb. 

Barb has been MIA from Quovadicon ever since the discovery of a body in a trunk. Charlotte somehow gets involved and goes to Barb’s condo to find her, only to find that the condo is in impeccable order, not the disaster Charlotte is expecting, making Charlotte think that Barb has something to hide and is using a messy desk in which to hide it. Fearing that either Barb will be the next victim or that Barb is somehow involved in the murder, Charlotte continues her snooping, until she is told to abruptly stop and not to return to Quovadicon by Fredelle, making Charlotte suspicious of Fredelle. 

She should be even more suspicious, but she’s not, when she gets an emergency message to return to Quovadicon, and upon her arrival, the building is empty and one of the employees dead. A hit on the head does little to dissuade Charlotte from continuing her investigation, and the fact that the police think she may be the murderer only makes her more determined to find Barb and a killer.

 Fast and breezy, Death Loves a Messy Desk is a pleasant mystery with a cast of hometown characters that become more a part of Charlotte’s life with each murder. Former high school friend/nemesis Pepper Monahan has mellowed toward Charlotte as her pregnancy has progressed, and though Charlotte threw her engagement ring in the Hudson, she has momentary maternal longings when she spends time with her friend Sally and her four children. 

The mystery is pretty easy to solve, though there are a couple of interesting suspects included along the way. Charlotte’s newfound feelings of jealousy where Jack is concerned intrigue and surprise her, but won’t surprise readers who have been following the series. Small-town hi-jinks and jealousies make this a familiar tale, organizing tips at the head of each chapter offer little reminders on how to make our lives more organized to have more time to read mysteries.                                                                          

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry