Dust Angel by Jutta Profijt

Dust Angel is about Corinna, who, after losing her job and boyfriend in the same day, starts up her own cleaning agency. All is going well until one day, she find a dead body in a client's house. This book isn't a mystery, it's just a humourous account of Corinna trying to deal with the body, and the consequences. And with Murphy's law, the day the body is in the boot is the day that you have interviews and other unexpected events occuring.

What was unique about the book is that it's set in Germany. At first, I thought this was going to be another America-Sophie-Kinsella type of book, but the change of location made it feel different. There are no long rambling monologues aimed at explaining the country, but the humour and small jokes make the reader aware of the place we're in.

Another aspect of the book I liked were the characters. Apart from Corinna, there's her grandmother, Troll (friend), Lisbeth (grandmother's friend), which together with her ex-boyfriend and a cast of minor characters form a pretty interesting group. All the main characters have distinct personalities, and are really engaging.

The part I loved most was the process of how she set up her business. As someone interested in business, the trials she went through to set up and promote her business was very interesting and amusing to me. And I suspect that even if you're not the sort that is interested in business, you'll find her stumblings humorous.

But, I didn't quite like the writing style. In the first part of the book (which is written like a recount), it keeps talking about the corpse, only that she refers to it in an oblique way. At first, I was really curious, but after the second time, it just interrupted the flow of the story and felt fairly annoying to me.

All in all, it's quite a good book. I definitely enjoyed reading it.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.