Product Description

In this delightfully infectious novel of love and intrigue, Leslie Glass puts a sly and sexy spin on two of life’s most devastating certainties: death and taxes.

Cassandra Sales is a woman with a gift for nurturing things—her husband, the successful wine importer; her two adult children; the fabulous flowers in her garden. After twenty-six years of marriage, however, Cassie’s husband, Mitch, is spending more time skipping abroad than remaining at home with her. Tired of being a modest Long Island housewife who can’t even remember what it’s like to be kissed, Cassie has a face-lift to recapture her youthful allure. The surprise for her husband goes awry when Mitch returns home early from a business trip. When he sees the post-op horror show, he collapses on the spot.

The resulting coma may spare Mitch from the tax audit he’s facing, but Cassie is forced to step in and research the facts of her own life. What she discovers about Mitch and the family business shocks her to the core: her “loving” husband was preparing to divorce her, swindle her out of tons of money, and run off with another woman.

As Cassie recuperates, she realizes what she’s after is revenge. Big time. But she soon learns that the road to retribution can lead to unforeseen and often deadly complications.

In Over His Dead Body, Leslie Glass blends supreme suspense and warm-hearted romantic comedy into a perfect mélange that is as inevitable as. . . death and taxes.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #687850 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-23
• Released on: 2004-11-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Cassie Sales is 50, dumpy and bored, and she's the rather spiritless heroine of this new novel by Glass (Burning Time). Cassie's jet-setting international wine-dealer husband, Mitch, hasn't had sex with her in years; to reignite their failing marriage, Cassie resolves to take advantage of Mitch's business-trip absence and buy herself a face-lift. She has the surgery, but Mitch arrives home unexpectedly, takes one look at her frighteningly bruised face and collapses with a near-fatal stroke. He lies in a coma as Cassie slowly learns that he's been cheating on her for years and is about to end their marriage and leave her broke. What should be a comic romp starts off as a plod, weighed down by the musings of the earnest and pathetic Cassie. The novel picks up halfway through, when the point of view shifts to that of Mona, Mitch's manipulative 36-year-old mistress. She's a shallow but vigorous conniver whom Glass describes with obvious relish ("Mona was a very practical girl whose bible was The Art of War.... She analyzed it daily and applied the strategy of the Seven Military Classics to human relations"). Glass's portrait of Mitch, "a very dependent man parading as an independent one," is also sharp and believable. But secondary characters, such as Cassie's slapstick Aunt Edith or her bratty children, Marsha and Teddy, are less successful. There are bright spots, but readers of Glass's far better mystery series featuring NYPD detective April Woo should skip this one.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Glass sets aside her popular mystery series featuring April Woo and plunges full speed into comedic suspense-with great results. Cassandra Sales is a 50-year-old Long Island housewife, fairly content in life until her workaholic wine importer husband, Mitch, suffers a stroke and languishes in a coma. Cassandra soon discovers that much of her husband's business dealings were shady and highly illegal. To make matters worse, Mona Simpson, an employee, has not only been having an affair with Mitch but has also racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, using credit cards issued in Cassandra's name. And soon the IRS comes knocking on Cassandra's door. Glass's story moves along at a snappy clip, highlighted by hysterical one-liners and slightly over-the-top characterizations. Of course, it doesn't take too much to figure out that the whole financial mishmash is going to work out in the end with the help of a particularly attractive and helpful IRS agent, who has the unlikely name of Charles Schwab. Still, readers will enjoy the plot twists and humorous circumstances leading to the final pages, where everyone gets just about what they deserve. For fans of Susan Isaacs and Olivia Goldsmith and those who like their fiction light and entertaining, Glass's new title is a winner. For all public libraries.
Margaret Hanes, Sterling Heights P.L., MI
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Cassie Sales is going through a rough patch: first, she decides to get a face-lift; then her husband returns unexpectedly from a business trip, sees her scarred and swollen face, and collapses; and then, while her husband lies deep in a coma, Cassie learns he's been cheating on her. He has, in fact, created an entirely new life for himself and was about to leave her--but not before bilking her out of a substantial sum of money. What will Cassie do now? Imagine a slightly more subdued version of Peter Lefcourt's riotous novels, and you'll have a good grasp of the author's tone. One slight quibble: Cassie's two constantly squabbling children, who are essential to the novel in a few different ways, are a little over the top. This novel represents a departure for the author, best known for her popular mysteries series featuring NYPD detective April Woo, and fans may find themselves, at first, in unfamiliar territory. But Glass' storytelling skills will soon have them feeling entirely at home. A very entertaining black comedy. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Hoot-and-a-Half She-Dunnit!
It's always fun to watch an established author in one aspect of a genre tackle something different. Best-known for her noir-ish, hard-hitting 'April Woo' procedurals, Leslie Glass's latest mystery "Over His Dead Body" is a hoot-and-a-half romp on the wild side of chicanery and double-dealing peopled by a veritable smorgasbord of off-the-wall characters who become involved in an utterly bizarre series of events. Its suburban-housewife heroine, aptly-named Cassandra Sales, is frumpy, frustrated and fifty. Her twenty-six-year marriage to her work/money-obsessed, largely-absentee husband Mitchell Sales (a highly successful wine dealer with a penchant for scamming the IRS) has gone so sour that she can't remember the last time they made love, and her decidedly unlovable, constantly-bickering adult children seem like aliens from another planet. Since she apparently can't change her environment, Cassie decides to start with herself. Taking advantage of Mitch's extended absence on a European business trip, she has a facelift. While she's still in its Grand Guignol recovery stages, Mitch comes home unexpectedly, takes one look at her and drops like a stone. He winds up in a coma and diagnosed as brain-dead in the hospital, and Cassie is suddenly on her own. Trying to get a handle on Mitch's business affairs turns her world upside down. The deeper she digs, the nastier things get. Not only has her husband been cheating on her for years (aided and abetted by their lawyer, their accountant, their family doctor and various members of the firm including her own son) with his stunning, amoral 'business associate', Mona Whitman, but, between them, they have squandered huge sums of money on a lifestyle for Mona (all charged under Cassie's name) which is as different from her own simpler realities as chalk from cheese. To further complicate matters, the IRS in the person of Special Agent Charlie Schwab is taking a strong interest in what he believes to be 'her' concealed assets as part of an overall audit of Mitch's affairs. When she ultimately discovers that Mitch was planning to divorce her and keep his millions for himself and Mona, Cassie goes on the warpath. And the tables don't just turn, they rotate.

"Over His Dead Body" is a delightfully-orchestrated riot of a novel that puts the fun back into dysfunctional. Just when you think things can't possibly get any crazier, Ms. Glass adds another twist to her intricate scenario, and we're off and running. Once they get their act together, Cassie and Charlie remind me a little of Nick and Nora Charles, and their tongue-in-cheek sparring not only provides a touch of wit and humor in Cassie's otherwise thoroughly dire predicament, but also adds a whole new dimension to the phrase, "Revenge is a dish best served cold". By me, "Over His Dead Body" made mighty tasty eating.

Perfect springtime read
It seems like no one is writing comic novels anymore. This one comes along just in time. I'm a big fan of Leslie Glass's mystery series, and this new book, although not a police procedural, combines the best elements from her suspense novels with a darkly comic, modern premise. It's a funny, thoughtful page turner. Terrible title, though, and it looks like the publisher spent about six minutes and a dirty nickel on the cover art, but once I got past that I loved it. I'm looking forward to seeing what Glass does next outside her April Woo series.

Why mess with a winning recipe?
As my title says, why mess with a winning recipe? Glass had a winner series of Detective April Woo book - witty and thrilling, with great characters. What else would you want in a murder mystery? I was TOTALLY disappointed with this trashy story, bad characters, who cares story line. I bought this book excited that Glass had a new April Woo book out and was undiscribably disappointed - especially because I live in Thailand had my friend bring the book all the way from the US! I recommend to skip this book, but do read her April Woo books, they are excellent! I can't wait for a new one to come out!