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Neurotic November: A Mary Magruder Katz Mystery    by Barbara Levenson Amazon.com order for
Neurotic November
by Barbara Levenson
Order:  USA  Can
CreateSpace, 2014 (2014)
Softcover, e-Book
* *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

Neurotic November by Barbara Levenson takes place in Miami. Mary Magruder Katz had been in Vermont for a bit and on her return her law office business picks up to full speed.

First, a black University of Miami football player, who is the rage of the campus with the coeds, is accused of raping an underage teenager. He admits to the sex but claims he had no idea she wasn't a college student and said she had sent him a nude e-mail picture of herself.

Mary's office assistant, Catherine, has her own problems when her ex-husband, who was a deadbeat as well as abusive, ends up dead on her doorstep. Mary's main squeeze's father is in trouble with the banking community and facing a grand jury charge. On a personal note, Mary's mother is having psychological problems as a result of Mary's father's heart attack.

Mary is going to host Thanksgiving dinner for a plethora of people, just what she doesn't need right now when she hardly has time to breathe.

I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery. Barbara Levenson writes of what she knows - spending most of her working life in a courtroom in one capacity or another, including as a judge in Miami's circuit court. I really liked Mary and wanted to know just how she was going to solve all her ongoing cases.

However, I found this self-published book trying at times because of all the typos. The misspelling of the word champagne really threw me. As well as misplaced quotation marks.

That said, it's a good read and worth your time. I hope Levensen is, even now, at work on the next book. This one is the fourth in the Mary Magruder Katz series. There is also a welcome bonus at the back of the book – some family Thanksgiving recipes.

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