When college librarian India Hayes is asked to be a bridesmaid in her childhood friend Olivia's wedding, she was hesitant to accept. After all, Olivia had been the object of her brother Mark's unreciprocated adoration, and India didn't want to bring up bad memories of the past for him. But Olivia begged, so India finally caved in and said yes.

But India is saved from having to wear the world's ugliest bridesmaid's dress when somebody pushes Olivia to her death in the fountain on the campus of Martin College. Mark becomes the prime suspect in the mysterious murder and is taken into police custody. It's up to India to try and clear her brother's name and find the real killer. As her parents, die-hard activists, stage protest appeals for Mark's release from jail, India begins looking for clues. With a little help from Ina, her slightly crazy landlady, India juggles avoiding Olivia's irate mother, Kirk, the rage-filled bodybuilder fiance, and Bree, the over-attentive maid of honor as she seeks out any piece of evidence that would lead to solving Olivia's murder, not realizing that the more she got involved, the more her own life would be in danger.

In her debut novel, MAID OF MURDER: An India Hayes Mystery, author Amanda Flower delivers a cast of unforgettable characters that are lively, quirky and extremely clever. Combine that with an intriguing story, and you have great cozy mystery. I look forward to future books from Amanda Flower.

Book Summary

India Hayes is a lot of things...starving artist who pays the rent as a college librarian, daughter of liberal activists, sister of an emotional mathematician, tenant of a landlady who has kissed the Blarney Stone one too many times, and a bridesmaid six times over. But she's about to step into the most challenging role of her life: amateur sleuth.

Childhood friend and now knockout beauty, Olivia Blocken is back in town to wed her bodybuilder fiance with India a reluctant attendant...not just because the bridesmaid's dress is a hideous mess, but because she's betraying her brother. Mark still caries a torch of the bride who once broke his heart and sent his life into a tailspin.

When Olivia turns up dead in the Martin College fountain and the evidence points to Mark, India must unmask the real culprit while juggling a furious and grieving Mother of the Bride, an annoyingly beautiful Maid of Honor, a set of hippie-generation parents, the police detective who once dated her sister and is showing a marked liking for her, and a provost itching to fire someone, anyone--maybe even a smart-mouth librarian.

India's investigation leads her on a journey through childhood memories that she'd much rather have left in the schoolyard, but to avoid becoming the next victim, it is a path she must follow.

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