The Man in the Microwave Oven (Theo Bogart Series #2)

by Susan Cox

Overview

Following Susan Cox’s Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel award-winning debut, The Man in the Microwave Oven is her next delightfully quirky mystery featuring San Francisco transplant Theo Bogart.

Fleeing from a murder and family tragedy in her native England, where she was the scandal du jour for the tabloid press, Theo Bogart changed her name and built an undercover life in a close-knit San Francisco neighborhood. She didn’t expect to find love and friendship there, and now she doesn’t know how—or if—to reveal the truth.

After a confrontation with a difficult neighbor, Theo fears her secrets are about to be uncovered after all. When the woman who threatened to expose her is murdered, Theo is embroiled in the kind of jeopardy she crossed an ocean to escape. Worse yet, dangerous family secrets have followed her. Theo’s grandfather unveils a glimpse of the shadowy world he once inhabited as an agent for the British Secret Service, bringing an even bigger breed of trouble—and another death—to Theo’s doorstep. She finds herself fighting to protect herself, her family, and her new friends, aware that one of them might be a murderer.

Susan Cox has once again painted a delightfully quirky portrait of a colorful San Francisco neighborhood and a woman finding her way through exactly the kind of scandalous mystery she was trying to leave behind.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250116208
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/03/2020
Series:	Theo Bogart Series , #2
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	402,322
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

SUSAN COX is a former journalist. She has also been marketing and public relations director for a safari park, a fundraiser for non-profit organizations, and the president of the Palm Beach County Attractions Association. She considers herself transcontinental and transatlantic, at home in San Francisco and Florida, with a large and boisterous family in England. Her first novel, The Man on the Washing Machine, won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition.

Editorial Reviews

08/31/2020

In Cox’s madcap second mystery featuring British expat Theophania Bogart (after 2015’s The Man on the Washing Machine), cutthroat attorney Katrina Dermody hints that she’s aware Theo is living in San Francisco under an assumed name. Theo fears Katrina will divulge her secrets in retaliation for opposing Katrina’s client’s construction of a high-rise condo in their Fabian Gardens neighborhood. Before Theo can determine what Katrina knows about her scandalous past, however, someone murders the attorney. To further complicate matters, aging priest Sergei Wolf visits Theo’s store, Aromas, with an urgent message for her grandfather, Clement Pryce-Fitton. Theo relays the information to Clement, who reveals that he’s former British intelligence and advises Theo to be on alert, as Sergei’s communiqué was a coded distress signal. Cox cleverly entwines the two seemingly unrelated story lines, upping the tale’s stakes and body count. Endearingly eccentric characters and a vividly sketched setting help distract from the contrived setup and dubious denouement. Fans of Donna Andrews will appreciate Cox’s zany style. Agent: Susanna Einstein, Einstein Literary Management. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Man in the Microwave Oven

ONE OF THE NEW YORK POST'S BEST NEW BOOKS OF THE WEEK
ONE OF AUNT AGATHA'S TOP BOOKS OF 2020

“The follow-up to Cox’s award-winning The Man on the Washing Machine includes a delightful amateur sleuth and eccentric characters with appeal for fans of traditional mysteries. The intricate plotting will keep readers guessing.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“Theo is a well-written character and the story is solid and sometimes fun. If you like somewhat offbeat characters this is the novel for you.” —Red Carpet Crash

“I was surprised at almost every turn, and delightfully so, by the array of characters and situations presented by this obviously talented new writer.” —Aunt Agatha’s

“It's a clever, intricate mystery with delightful characters, especially the amateur sleuth.” —Lesa’s Book Critiques

Praise for The Man on the Washing Machine

“[A] madcap romp. First-novelist Cox controls the seeming chaos of her plot with finesse, keeping readers in the dark until the very end as to who is involved in what. An impressive debut.” —Booklist

“Delightful…A hearty dash of humor enlivens the complex, multi-layered tale.” —Publishers Weekly

“Debut novelist Susan Cox writes with deft assurance. She has created an appealing cast of characters and an absorbing plot that kept me turning the pages." —Margaret Maron

“An impressive debut...Cox ladles on the humor while also delivering a multi-layered tale about a close-knit San Francisco neighborhood and a young woman trying to reinvent herself. Cox's light approach to The Man on the Washing Machine is balanced by perceptive back stories for each character...The brisk plot's twists and turns lend plenty of surprises while maintaining believability.” —South Florida Sun Sentinel

“Beguiling…The book's heart lies with the eclectic mix of characters and their tight-knit San Francisco neighborhood, which provide an engaging blend of cultures and tensions. The plot will keep more than just the characters guessing until the very end.” —RT Book Reviews (4 stars)

From the Publisher

★ 10/01/2020

Fleeing a family scandal in London, Theo Bogart moved to San Francisco, changed her name, bought a building, opened a bath-and-body shop, and found friends and love. Now she feels guilty about lying to her friends and lover. Somehow, Katrina Dermody, a lawyer who stirs up trouble locally, discovers Theo's identity and threatens her. When Theo finds Katrina's dead body, she's actually relieved, and breaks into Katrina's office to steal her files. She's not the only one who breaks in, though someone chases Theo, shooting at her. Inspector Lichlyter is a little suspicious, but she already knows Theo's identity because she was lead investigator the last time Theo was involved in a murder. Things get worse when a Ukrainian priest shows up looking for Theo's grandfather, who followed her to the States, and Theo's grandfather reveals he knows the man because they were both spies. When the priest ends up dead, and her grandfather is arrested, Theo develops a few investigative skills of her own. VERDICT The follow-up to Cox's award-winning The Man on the Washing Machine includes a delightful amateur sleuth and eccentric characters with appeal for fans of traditional mysteries. The intricate plotting will keep readers guessing.—Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Library Journal

2020-07-29
Theophania Bogart, a fugitive from British high society, finds that her second case takes her outside her circle of friends but not out of her embattled San Francisco neighborhood.

Who could possibly have wanted to shoot attorney Katrina Dermody to death as she sat in the Tesla she’d made sure everyone in Fabian Gardens knew about? Theo, who discovers her body, knows she can start with the fellow tenants who opposed predatory developer Amos Noble’s determined attempt to plant a condo in the neighborhood. Her suspicions intensify when she insinuates herself into Katrina’s office and emerges with a folder documenting the juicy secrets of every tenant from Sabina Talbot, the daughter of anti-condo demonstrators Guillermo and Ruth D’Allessio (child out of wedlock), to wine company owners Jesus and Luis Aguardo (sale of liquor to teen who drank himself to death) to Angela Lacerda (high school abortion) to Theo herself, a photographer who changed her name and fled the press when her father, a noted English portraitist, stabbed her mother to death. As if that weren’t a rich enough field, a visit from priest/spymaster Sergei Wolf alerts Theo to the existence of a venerable espionage organization spanning generations whose members include both her beloved grandfather Clement Pryce-Fitton and Katrina. Where will the complications end? Not even at the Acknowledgments, whose first line identifies a real-life mystery a good deal more lighthearted than the higher-stakes case Theo’s plunged into.

Colorful, bustling, and stuffed to the brim with endless complications and a throwaway killer.

Kirkus Reviews

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