Kindle Edition Amazon SFB Author Page Martin Sisters Publishing Category:  Mystery/Suspense Publisher: Martin Sisters Publishing ISBN-10:  1937273911 Type: Fiction Pages: 273 Copyright: Feb 3, 2013 ISBN-13: 9781937273910 MURDER FOR BID is a humorous cozy mystery set in the Chicago area and featuring an amateur sleuth. Former investment banker, Pippi O’Brien, has turned to resale merchandising for a living. Now, instead of trading on the Chicago Stock Exchange, she rummages through dumpsters, hits garage sales and peruses consignments shops in search of cast-off treasures to sell on-line … that is when she’s not busy playing detective. Join Pippi as she stumbles upon the mysterious murder of one of Chicago’s wealthiest suburban socialites and piles up a list of suspects and clues as disorganized as her over-stuffed apartment and as messy as her next trash-to-treasure project. Excerpt Being my own boss beat the heck out of enduring the daily corporate grind. Of course, now I was dealing with a different type of grind and flies. Lots of flies. I was swatting at the little pests while I worked my way to the bottom of an industrial sized dumpster located outside a fixer-upper in one of the nicer neighborhoods of my suburb. True, insects and a certain amount of stench were the downsides of my new career, but I’d happily endure them if it meant I didn’t have to go back to my old job. Although, as my family and friends liked to remind me, my old job was respectable, not to mention cleaner and … well, they were right. At my old job, I rarely dealt with flies, just egomaniacs and profiteers ready to downsize, right-size, and reallocate at a moment’s notice. I preferred the flies.

Goodreads Reader Review
Susan Furlong-Bolliger does a nice job of interweaving dialogue and story telling in Murder For Bid. The story telling is compelling and the dialogue flows extremely well. The story as told through the perspective of the main character, Phillipina O'Brien, engages the reader from the start. This is not an overtly serious murder mystery. The author does a good job of lightening the mood throughout the book with "Pippi's" somewhat comical thought patterns and behavior. However, there is enough intrigue to keep the reader guessing "who done it!".
If I hadn't read the author's profile I never would have guessed this was her first novel. I look forward to more works from the author and plan on looking over her other short story murder mysteries as well.

Amazon Reader Review
My one complaint regarding Ms. Bolliger's shorter mysteries is that they always leave me wanting more. And I'm happy to say that Murder for Bid, her first full-length mystery, delivers just that.

This story follows the same pattern she mastered in her shorter mystery fiction: her unique blend of classic murder mystery with her trademark humor. Somehow she manages to create a world of murder, danger, and suspense in which the reader--thanks to the wit, as well as the likable (and less likeable) characters--feels right at home. In a book like this, there's always the danger that one aspect (humor or mystery) will undermine the other, but in this book--as well as in her shorter mysteries--they actually complement and reinforce each other. This is no small accomplishment.

My one complaint: I still want more.