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Jennifer L. Hart
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Skeletons in the Closet (Laundry Hag Series, Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Jennifer L. Hart (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 6,863 ratings
See all formats and editions
Murder, mayhem, meet your match!

Maggie Phillips hasn’t had it easy. As the wife of retired Navy SEAL, and the adoptive mother of two little hellions, Maggie is constantly looking for ways to improve her family’s financial situation. She accepts a cleaning position for her new neighbors (who redefine the term ‘eccentric’), never imagining she will end up as the sole alibi for a man with a fascination for medieval torture devices when he is brought up on murder charges.

While Maggie struggles to prove the man’s innocence, her deadbeat brother arrives, determined to sell Maggie and Neil on his next great scheme and to mooch with a vengeance. If that isn’t bad enough, her in-laws, (the cut-throat corporate attorneys) descend on the house, armed with disapproval and condemnation, for the family’s annual Thanksgiving celebration.

As the police investigation intensifies, Maggie searches for the killer among the upper echelon of Hudson, Massachusetts in the only way she can— by scrubbing their thrones.

Of the porcelain variety, that is…

Skeletons in the Closet is the first entry in the Misadventures of the Laundry Hag series. If you like relatable characters, family hijinks, and laugh-out-loud humor, then you’ll love Jennifer L. Hart’s endearing tale.

Put off the housework and start reading Skeletons in the Closet right now!
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  1. Book 1 of 5
    Misadventures of the Laundry Hag
  2. Print length
    242 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    July 21, 2011
  6. File size
    1052 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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From the Publisher

Laundry Hag mystery

Stories with Hart

She's up to her ears in grime and crime....

One day when I was vacuuming the stairs I started daydreaming about what it would be like to have someone who would clean for me. I immediately dismissed the idea because that person would see all of my dirty laundry. Not that I have any real secrets. But it was the idea that sparked my most popular mystery series.

Fan favorite fun facts

  • American funny mystery
  • Amateur woman sleuth
  • Former military family getting used to civilian life
  • Ongoing married romance with kids

Reading Order for Misadventures of the Laundry Hag series

  • Skeletons in the Closet
  • Swept Under the Rug
  • All Washed Up
  • Hung Out to Dry
  • The Laundry Hag's Christmas Rental
  • Bun in the Oven
  • The Laundry Hag's New Year's Clean Up
Prequel Romance

Can't get enough Maggie and Neil? Me either.

While working on the second Laundry Hag mystery I felt the need to explore the backstory of Maggie and Neil and how they met. Who Needs A Hero is their love story.

Prequel Romance

Who Needs A Hero

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A really enjoyable read--laugh out loud funny--one that I'm glad to have had the privilege to review. I look forward to more of Ms. Hart's work. Excellent!
-Cocktail Reviews


"a wonderfully fun whodunit"
-ParaNormalRomance.org

A Night Owl Romance Top Pick!

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005E7K0MW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Elements Unleashed (July 21, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 21, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1052 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 242 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 6,863 ratings

About the author

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Jennifer L. Hart

Jennifer L. Hart

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USA Today bestselling author Jennifer L. Hart writes about characters that cuss, get naked, and often make poor but hilarious life choices. A native New Yorker, Jenn now lives in the mountains of North Carolina with her imaginary friends. Her works to date include the Magical Midlife Misadventures, the Silver Sisters series and the Cougars and Cauldrons series all featuring main characters over 40.

Visit Jennifer online at authorjenniferlhart.com

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
6,863 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

M.Wilshin
5.0 out of 5 stars Best “accidental” read-EVER
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2020
Verified Purchase
My tastes run towards the more extreme ends of horror & bizarro fiction. Edward Lee, Wrath James White, Bryan Smith, Carlton Mellick III, Jeremy C. Shipp, Christine Morgan and whatnot. Think of King or Barker when they're at their most outlandish and flat out gross. Now go a little further down the rabbit hole.
Yep. That's me reading the icky stuff with reckless abandon getting the sidelong glances and social distancing (before it became a thing) upon seeing vicious sounding titles.
Then, through a series of errors involving a partial title match, lack of WiFi & being stranded in the smallest room of the house with nothing to read. A situation maybe only Maggie Phillips, the Laundry Hag might understand.
And guys, (and I do mean guys because this book appears to skew towards women in it's marketing) you've got to give this one a chance.
First and foremost it's a solid read- filled with likeable characters who make reasonable decisions even when everyone knows things will hit the fan that much harder.
The book is actually funny. From the cracking tight dialog to the meticulously crafted scenes and situations going from oh my to OMG I found myself grinning through out.

Everything about this title is breezy, bright, & bonkers.
It's the palate cleanser you've been looking for after reading all the heavy stuff and maybe an entirety new genre for you to explore.
One person found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Great light hearted mystery
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2016
Verified Purchase
For the better part of my life when I've desired to read a mystery I've tended to lean towards the thriller or nail biting suspense. Here lately, however, I've been picking up some simple light hearted reads. The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag fits that bill. Very humorous, engaging characters, and a simple fast paced whodunit.

Maggie, our heroine, is married to former SEAL, Neil, who now works as a computer tech for Intel. They have two sons from Neil's previous marriage. Since the boys were just babies when Maggie and Neil got married, Maggie has always been a stay at home mom. Lately she's been considering finding a job to help bolster their income. When she's invited to a soiree at a neighbor's, her family decides to go. They've never met this particular couple and Maggie has been dying to get a look at the house. It's one of the largest in the neighborhood and obviously quite expensive. Her close friend, Sylvia, and her husband, Eric, are already there when they arrive. The wife is very cold and snobby while the husband is just plain weird. A locked room in their house contains instruments of torture, including an iron maiden. All Maggie wants to do is run. However, before the evening ends, and thanks to friend, Sylvia, Maggie finds herself with a job - cleaning this strange family's house!

She whines to Neil about her fate but decides to go. It's not like it's a permanent position. She can quit whenever she wants. The first day isn't bad but when she gets home she discovers she's left her cell phone behind. This requires a return trip. She ends up with the creepy husband, in his office, while he extols the uses of a chastity belt. She manages to escape unscathed but hours later the police show up at her door. Creepy husband's wife has been murdered and it appears Maggie is the man's alibi.

Before she has time to blink, Maggie is smack dab in the middle of a murder investigation. To complicate things, her deadbeat brother arrives and brings his particular brand of chaos into her life and her mother-in-law calls and informs Maggie they are doing Thanksgiving at Maggie's house and she is bringing guests, important people she expects Maggie to impress. She does tell her she's sending her cook, Leo, to help Maggie out.

I loved the humor in this. Loved the various personalities Maggie finds herself surrounded by, including her brother, her in-laws, her friends, but most of all Neil. He's her rock no matter what she's going through. He's her voice of reason but he also doesn't like the fact his wife is in danger.

If you enjoy a good mystery and appreciate some well timed humor mixed in, this is for you. I've become a fan of Jennifer Hart.
2 people found this helpful
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R. Peterson
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun read
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2024
Verified Purchase
What a fun introduction to Magg z'sie's misadventures! I just downloaded book 2 and look forward to following her and Neil.
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TeeMee-Kraftqueen65-Obsessive Reader
3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2022
Verified Purchase
I needed something to read in between series of my preferred genre, and this happened to be in my Kindle Unlimited library.

It's a good, quirky, clean, and light-hearted read-especially if you like this particular type of book.

Character building, especially around the main and her family, has a solid foundation. Enough to consider reading the next one.
I started it one afternoon and finished it by the next morning.

Strange thing is when I hit the "about this book..." before reading it, the information was there and showed the rest of the books in the series. Now, after finishing it less than 48 hours later, I keep getting a loading error that the "page cannot be found." Once tracking it down, it shows books 3-5 I believe, but no book 2, and samples of the next ones available only. Also appears the author is under another penmanship name now. Guess that's the flip-side to Kindle Unlimited and older books with authors that have changed platforms-especially multiple times.

At the end of the book there's plenty of promotional materials one could read from the author as well, and a ton of different platforms to click links to follow. No thanks.

This made me drop the review from 4 to 3, and almost made we drop it to 2 stars for no longer making it available. It would've been better to remove it altogether from the Unlimited section.

Also looks as if the author has switched over to the latest trend of "paranormal after 40's" subgenre. Yuck! Insulting with no real plots to the majority of them.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in Canada on January 15, 2024
Verified Purchase
Bought for my kindle
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars ... with twists and quirky character my hunger for a perfect cozy mystery is satiated *burp*
Reviewed in India on November 29, 2016
Verified Purchase
nail biting mystery with twists and quirky character
my hunger for a perfect cozy mystery is satiated *burp*
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Sonja
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read.
Reviewed in Australia on May 29, 2019
Verified Purchase
Fast delivery. Good read
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tiziana
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable
Reviewed in Italy on March 12, 2015
Verified Purchase
I liked this mystery despite some misspelled words. I thought it would be enjoyable from the first pages which introduce Maggie and her everyday misadventures. She is a funny character but also a woman who tries to do her best to improve the household’s finance situation. And that’s why she finds herself involved in murders. Apart from the plot of the mystery – which is intriguing, with a good twist at the end – there are hilarious situations such as the “adventure” of the wheelbarrow which Maggie wants to use to carry home her shopping for the Thanksgiving dinner but suddenly it disappears and then it is retrieved by the police with a corpse in it! Thanks to her job as a house cleaner and her good eye for unusual details and situations, she finds out important clues for the solution of the mystery and is going to be a “confidential informant” of the local police! Perfect if you need something both funny and exciting to spend your spare time. This book deserves between 3 and 4 stars, probably more like 4.
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Betzie Summer Antone
4.0 out of 5 stars Laundry Hag, in distress
Reviewed in Canada on August 13, 2022
Verified Purchase
I enjoyed the Laundry Hag it was very entertaining, it was even better that the killer was totally not even on my list of who it could have been. I like the idea that Maggie was a strong person that didn’t quit.
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