Stolen Goods

Department Store 1949 (The Workplace Mysteries)

By: Clarence Budington Kelland

Narrated by: Morgane Hadley

A Zany - Yet Sensible - Heroine Sleuths Her Way Into Danger and Romance

Stolen Goods is mystery, comedy, and romance, and spotlights more of the signature geek characters at which Clarence Budington Kelland so thoroughly excelled - because it takes one to know one.

“Shenanigans!” - the word often chosen by loquacious Sherry Madigan, this time to describe what was going on in the Linen Department at Prothero’s, the colossal metropolitan department store where she worked. Of course, Sherry was small potatoes at Prothero’s, being only a nerdy copywriter in Advertising and not entitled to an opinion.

But Sherry put her whole self into a job and prided herself on her acute powers of observation. And she had a gift for standing on the spot where things were popping at the precise moment they popped.

Which was why she happened to be around when a body was found in the fitting room, and why she overheard the cashier in the Linen Department sobbing hysterically: “I'm next” - over and over again. And the girl was right - hers was the next body Sherry found.

At first, no one paid any attention to Sherry’s theories about the murder. But gradually, as the situation became more and more sinister, her deductions began to make more and more sense. Sherry was very much in the way.

Things started to boil over just at the moment Sherry began to look at assistant buyer Roger Newsome with interest and, being an autodidactic geek, checked out a book on relationships and romance with some eye-opening, 1955-style ideas on how to attract a man.

©2017 Estate of Clarence Budington Kelland (P)2021 Wordwooze Publishing

Written 50+ Years ago = fiction time machine

The writings of Larence Bidington Kelland are like a delightful time machine back to the use of language of the mid 1900s, all in labor of a good plot and interesting characters.

Cute Mystery

The dialog was difficult to follow. The story takes place in the 1950's. People were very conservative and refined. This is not the typical romance but there is HEA.
The narrator had the perfect voice for this book.

semi-engaging

A quirky story with a perky main character. It took some effort to follow the story and connect with the characters.

Very fun read

The quirky protagonist Sherry Madigan is smart, observant and intuitive, but woefully underestimated as are many young women. Regardless, she collects the clues and solves the mysteries of theft, extortion and murder in her Department store workplace. As a good multitasker, she also shops for a husband while solving crimes! Morgane Hadley, the narrator is wonderful!

sherry is a pain

I didn't like Sherry from the start. She was nosy, manipulative, a user and overy obnoxious!! I kept wishing she'd turn up dead next. Her actions were callous and didn't reflect compassion imo. Poor little eccentric rich girl is what I saw. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator was okay.