"well written humorous private investigator tale"

Sophie Metropolis is a private investigator in training under the mentorship of her Uncle Spyros who owns his own agency. When she is not drinking frappes she is avoiding her mother who wants to hire her to find out who her husband is having an affair with; the wannabe PI doesn't want to get involved in the middle of that family mess. She is working on a case in which she has to find Fred the missing ferret who belongs to a wheelchair bound heartbroken girl.

Her workload also includes trying to prove that a man who wants disability is faking an on-the-job injury. Sophie tries to serve papers on a man who is as slippery as an eel, meaning he always finds a way to wiggle out of it. Finally she seeks the missing dry cleaner store owner Uncle Tolly who has two sets of books that makes it look like he is laundering money for mafia mobster Tony Di Piazza. His thugs are following her everywhere she goes and break into her apartment to steal the books. Sophie is in danger while the mysterious, and sexy and dangerous Australian Jake Porter watches her back; she would prefer he held her tight in bed.

Readers who like well written humorous tales with an eccentric support cast will want to read DIRTY LAUNDRY. The heroine is a modern woman who is close to her old world Greek family allowing readers to visualize a Queens Greek-American neighborhood. Sophie's dog with his extreme case of flatulence will have readers laughing out loud as she tries to cure his condition so her apartment can smell clean in case Porter joins her.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted April 25, 2006

Summary

Sofie Metropolis is the newest P.I. on the mean streets of Astoria, Queens. She's known for her trademark frappes and her itchy trigger finger. She even shot one of her own clients!

Well, he was trying to kill her at the time . . . and she only hit him in the knee . . . .

Sofie's hot on the trail of a missing pet ferret—wait, aren't those illegal in New York City?—and a missing dry cleaner. According to his furious wife, Aglaia, Uncle Tolly was acting odd right before he disappeared. The proof? The brand-new Mercedes Tolly just bought. And the business's books, which show that Uncle Tolly was laundering more than just clothes.

Which is where the mob comes in, in the darkly handsome figure of Tony DiPiazza. Tony's very taken with Sofie. Too bad she won't back off the money-laundering and kidnapping (or is it murder?) investigation.

Really too bad, since hunky Australian bounty hunter/man of mystery Jake Porter is hanging around again, tinkering under the hood of Sofie's car and kissing Sofie like he really means it, only she's too busy to notice.

Too busy: being attacked by a malevolent dry-cleaning bag; bailing Aglaia out of jail; airing out her apartment after an assault by noxious dog-farts; and spying on her own father. Because Sofie's mother thinks that after nearly thirty years of marriage, her husband is having an affair. Can't anyone stay faithful for five minutes?

Sofie's quest for the truth gets her into hot water—and a pair of cement overshoes. It's not her best look.