Thursday, January 22, 2026

Book Review: The Squeaky Clean Skeleton by R.A. Muth

 

Book Description

Hi! I'm Tori Madison, and I hate scrubbing toilets, which is unfortunate because my BFF Hazel and I own Bubbles and Troubles, Beach Plum Bay's premier cleaning service.

When Mrs. Livingston asked us to sort through the contents of her attic, however, we thought our toilet-scrubbing days were over. That is...until we found her corpse.

As if finding our client's body stuffed in a steamer trunk wasn't enough of an upset, someone needed to save her cat from being sent to a local high-kill animal shelter. That person, as it turned out, was me. I had no sooner set up the critter's litter box in my guest bathroom when he revealed another side. A six-foot-four, hunky, Irish side that only I can see.

Before I could come to grips with my new feline friend's secret, Mrs. Livingston's relatives, eager to claim their inheritance, asked Hazel and me to solve the murder. And the amount of the reward was many times over what their aunt owed for the job she hired us to do. Soon we had a plan that included Rune, my new housepet-turned-houseguest.

The more I got to know Rune, the more I wanted to confide in Hazel. But was I risking our lives by keeping my cat's secret as we went through with our crazy plan to catch a killer? Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice.


My Review

This is my very first cozy mystery!

I won this book in a FB giveaway and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did because it was a fun read for sure. 

Tori and Hazel own a cleaning company, and they start sorting through an attic only to find a dead body. Tori feels awful but the surprises just kept coming. After bringing home the dead lady's cat, the cat turns into a very hunky man (Rune) that only she sees. This book had me hooked at that point. How could I not love this now?

Of course the family comes out of the woodwork to get what they can out of their deceased family member and then ask the cleaning crew to help solve the murder for a very hefty amount of money. My first thought was why are they asking the house cleaners to solve the murder mystery but I just went with it. 

This story made me laugh on more than one occasion and had me scratching my head a few times at what was going on with these characters. I knew who the murdered was after a while. But the murder mystery was fun to follow along with. This book definitely kept me entertained while I was reading it. 

If you like a fun cozy mystery, then you will like this book. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 


38 comments:

  1. I like the title of this book and it sounds like a lot of goofy fun!

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  2. I was startled to see you reading and reviewing this book. What a change of pace! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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    1. I won it so I figured I should try it out.

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  3. That's a cool cover and it sounds good. Hooray for a 5!

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  4. Another great read and review. Glad you enjoyed it.

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  5. Yay for your first cozy mystery and enjoying it! Mysteries and thrillers are my some of my fav genres!

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  6. A murderous attic, a hunky Irish cat-man and house cleaners turned detectives will check a lot of “yep, I am in” boxes for people.

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  7. Sounds good. I like the cover :-D

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  8. This sounds like a fun read!

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  9. I can't believe this is your first cozy mystery. They are mostly all light, quick, fun reads.

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  10. I was going to say this isn't your usual read. How fun that you won this one and that it turned out to be such a fun book. I love a book that makes you laugh. And the premise of this one sounds very fun. I'm adding it to my TBR list. :D

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  11. Cozy is often good!
    PS do you also have problems today hitting the reply button on comments, or just me?

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    1. Yes, the reply button seems to have been fixed today.

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  12. I love the cover on this book, Mary!

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  13. I have never won a book.

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    1. I enter a lot of contests each month.

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  14. I should try more cozy mysteries

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  15. 5 out of 5 stars ... that's good :)

    All the best Jan

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  16. I love cozies, so thanks for the rec. You may want to look into paranormal cozies, since I know you enjoy paranormal romances.

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