The Curse of the Holy Pail (Odelia Grey Mysteries)

Sue Ann Jaffarian
Midnight Ink (2007)
ISBN 978-0738708645
Reviewed by Lynn O’Connell for Reader Views (6/07)


Who in the world would kill in order to steal a lunchbox?  Savvy, good-natured plump paralegal and amateur detective Odelia Grey has a long list of suspects in this second book in the “Odelia Grey Mystery” series.  After all, the lunch box is reported to be worth in the range of $30,000.

The story begins early one morning as Odelia heads to the office of one the firm’s clients to pick up some paperwork.  While there, client Sterling Price shows her his prized lunchbox collection.  Then, before sunset that same day, Price is dead and the most valuable lunchbox in the collection is missing!  According to the police, Price died from poisoning which the killer had placed in his office coffee.  Who could have done it?  -- Price’s secretary, his recently dumped fiancée, his son or son-in-law (both of whom are sleeping with Price’s ex-fiancée), his conniving daughter – or simply an avid lunchbox collector?  Odelia must do something; after all, the police think she might have killed Price, while others believe she has the missing one-of-a-kind lunchbox.

Over the next 350 pages, Odelia has various adventures and mis-adventures as she endeavors to solve the mystery and recover the Holy Pail.  At one point, she stows herself in a closet of the belated Price to watch his relatives in secret.  At another, she heads off to Hollywood’s Paramount Ranch to meet one of the FBI’s most-wanted criminals.

Besides the mystery, Jaffarian focuses on Odelia’s relationship with her sexy, wheel-chair bound boyfriend, Greg.  Greg proposes to Odelia early on in the book, and readers follow Odelia’s thought process throughout the book as she tries to make her decision on the marriage proposal.

Humor is also added by the presence of Odelia’s friends and work colleagues.  The fact that the book is written in first-person makes it even funnier as readers share in Odelia’s perceptions on life.  One highlight is Mike Steele, Odelia’s despised boss, who ends up in the hospital when attacked at the law office by thugs searching Odelia’s office for the missing lunchbox.  Then, there’s Zee, Odelia’s best friend and co-founder with Odelia of their plus-size support group.  And, of course, there is cat Seamus and dog Wainwright who love to share in snacks of ice cream and Girl Scout mint cookies with Odelia.

Odelia is both likable and believable as the protagonist of this off-the-wall mystery.  Keep in mind that author Sue Ann Jaffarian is a plus-size paralegal herself.  It’s nice to see a down-to-earth leading role rather than the traditional Nancy Drew types that are so typical.

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