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Kelling & Bittersohn #7
The Recycled Citizen
Sarah Kelling and her husband, Max Bittersohn, have joined the rest of the Kelling clan to plan a black-tie charity auction with the proceeds going to the Senior Citizens' Recycling Center. But soon one of the Center's members is killed, and the Kelling clan enlists Sarah and Max to solve the mystery and save the Kelling name. HC: Mysterious Press.
199 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1988
156 people are currently reading
287 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte MacLeod
94 books256 followersNaturalized US Citizen
Also wrote as Alisa Craig
Charlotte MacLeod, born in New Brunswick, Canada, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, was the multi-award-winning author of over thirty acclaimed novels. Her series featuring detective Professor Peter Shandy, America's homegrown Hercule Poirot, delivers "generous dollops of...warmth, wit, and whimsy" (San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle). But fully a dozen novels star her popular husband-and-wife team of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. And her native Canada provides a backdrop for the amusing Grub-and-Stakers cozies written under the pseudonym Alisa Craig and the almost-police procedurals starring Madoc Rhys, RCMP. A cofounder and past president of the American Crime Writers League, she also edited the bestselling anthologies Mistletoe Mysteries and Christmas Stalkings.
Also wrote as Alisa Craig
Charlotte MacLeod, born in New Brunswick, Canada, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, was the multi-award-winning author of over thirty acclaimed novels. Her series featuring detective Professor Peter Shandy, America's homegrown Hercule Poirot, delivers "generous dollops of...warmth, wit, and whimsy" (San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle). But fully a dozen novels star her popular husband-and-wife team of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. And her native Canada provides a backdrop for the amusing Grub-and-Stakers cozies written under the pseudonym Alisa Craig and the almost-police procedurals starring Madoc Rhys, RCMP. A cofounder and past president of the American Crime Writers League, she also edited the bestselling anthologies Mistletoe Mysteries and Christmas Stalkings.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
May 29, 2018
2018 - Fun way to pass a rainy day, I always enjoy rereading this charming cozy series. I love that the action is back in Boston with Sarah’s wonderfully fun and funny relatives front and center - and Sarah and Max are expecting a baby! It was fun meeting the gracious and delightful Aunt Emma and the wickedly funny Aunt Mabel in the last book, but good to visit with the Boston Kellings again!
2016 - Another fun reread in a beloved series - this time, Sarah, Max and all of her eccentric and hilarious extended Kelling relatives are in on the action! Also, the mystery has moved back to Boston after Sarah's last outing out in the wealthy burbs - this time, Cousins Dolph and Mary have lost one of their best workers at their Senior Citizens' Recycling Center in an apparent mugging gone horribly wrong. But after several other seniors have their recycling bags stolen, Max and Sarah begin to suspect something much more sinister is going on...witty, charming and whimsical, Miss MacLeod never disappoints. Highly recommended to fans of clever, literate semi-cozy mysteries (funny not sappy!)
2016 - Another fun reread in a beloved series - this time, Sarah, Max and all of her eccentric and hilarious extended Kelling relatives are in on the action! Also, the mystery has moved back to Boston after Sarah's last outing out in the wealthy burbs - this time, Cousins Dolph and Mary have lost one of their best workers at their Senior Citizens' Recycling Center in an apparent mugging gone horribly wrong. But after several other seniors have their recycling bags stolen, Max and Sarah begin to suspect something much more sinister is going on...witty, charming and whimsical, Miss MacLeod never disappoints. Highly recommended to fans of clever, literate semi-cozy mysteries (funny not sappy!)
January 1, 2020
Sarah Kelling's relatives are featured in this mystery which includes a charity ball/auction to aid a Senior Center. The very pregnant Sarah helps her husband, Max, solve the mystery.
February 4, 2017
This was probably the best of the series that I have read so far and I have definitely missed several. The mystery was good, the characters were their usual wonky, obstreperous selves, and I did enjoy this more than the first several I have critiqued and criticized. The unspoken theme seems to be that to those who do good deeds, nasty things must happen. The arresting scene is absolutely hilarious, with Max finally hauling everyone back to some sort of sense and sensibility. I'm not keeping the book but I did enjoy it.
February 26, 2019
I read many of these books years ago and really enjoyed them. Somehow I missed this book at the time. It was fine but not as remarkable as mind remembered! Like the Boston setting and the old world "charm". Interesting plot.
October 29, 2022
Short, fun, with lots of jumping to conclusions that pay off and buckets of weird relatives ("eccentric" is too mild a word) running about.
May 30, 2025
One of the better ones of this series (so far!). Relatively reasonable plot, but ending felt a little rushed.
March 3, 2018
It's light, it's fast, and it's got that weird humor that MacLeod does so well. It brings in characters from previous books, and I'm starting to get a grip on which Kellings are which (should I be worried?).
Dolph and Mary are having a gala auction to expand their services to the elderly poor. One of their patrons is mugged, and it sets off a whole train of events that leads to the breakup of a drug ring, and also brings other things to light.
Loved the convoluted (but not that hard to follow) events and the ending. Max and Sarah have their hands full with involved relatives on both sides!
Dolph and Mary are having a gala auction to expand their services to the elderly poor. One of their patrons is mugged, and it sets off a whole train of events that leads to the breakup of a drug ring, and also brings other things to light.
Loved the convoluted (but not that hard to follow) events and the ending. Max and Sarah have their hands full with involved relatives on both sides!
April 1, 2019
I was so excited to read a mystery book, but I was sadly disappointed. Right off the bat, I felt like there were too many characters with different names, and it was hard to follow the story. By the time I truly got a grip on who the characters were I had missed so much. When the person who committed the crimes was persecuted I wasn't really surprised, because I didn't get what was going on. Maybe I'm just not used to this style of writing, but I didn't enjoy the story at all. There were also no twists or thoughtful plots in my opinion.
April 18, 2017
The book is a bit slow to start as MacLeod introduces us to the SCRC -Senior Citizens Recycling Center- but once the scene is set and the characters in place it moves right along smoothly to the conclusion. The humour is the same brand of snark and self deprecation that characterizes the series and while there isn't any character development, the book still manages to feel like a chat with an old, dear, drunken friend.
December 7, 2018
This book was boring. It's #7 in the series and I had not read #1-6, so that might explain why I couldn't work up any interest in the book--maybe if I knew the characters already, I'd be more interested. But I doubt it. The villain is plain from our first meeting. I was hoping to find some realistically-written older characters, but they weren't in this book. There's nothing offensive here, but it's just not worth the read.
April 26, 2014
Wackiness abounds in this putatively private eye tale. The narrative seems to exist solely as a warp within which the woof of zany characters, offbeat dialog, and outrageous actions is woven. Very enjoyable.
July 3, 2024
Clever mystery, fun characters and lots of interaction between them. This is one of my favorites in the series, but it won't mean as much if you haven't read at least the first two, in order.
June 18, 2025
The hard-headed businesswoman with a soft heart.
Charlotte MacLeod worked for a Boston PR firm and rose to a vice-presidency before she retired. A woman who went that far up the corporate ladder in the 1940’s and 50’s had to be a tough cookie. If her books are any indication, she was also kind and compassionate.
I've realized why I like this series (written at the end of the Twentieth Century) although I normally prefer older mysteries. At the time of writing, MacLeod was elderly and (as older writers do) she wrote of a past time. Not the “Good Old Days” (which weren’t good for everyone) but of a time when you could show compassion for the less fortunate without being accused of being weak or a “bleeding heart” or a card-carrying communist determined to overthrow the government
And speaking of revolutions, formerly meek Sarah Kelling is making waves in her Boston Brahmin family. Neglected by her parents and orphaned early, married to a much-older cousin while still a teen, and dominated by him and his mother, the family never expected her to become a rebel. Now she’s married (gasp!) a Jew and introduced two women into the family who don’t pass the traditional tests for Kelling brides.
Mary was a hard-worker who became homeless when her retirement proved inadequate to deal with the rising cost of living. She’s now married to Cousin Dolph, who inherited a fortune from his crabby aunt and uncle. Mary knows the importance of earning money from recycling cans and bottles to the elderly poor and homeless, so they’ve started a Senior Citizen Recycling Center to make life easier for those forced to scavenge for small change.
Now they’re working to open a low-cost housing center and they decide to have an auction to raise money. The huge house Dolph inherited is typically Victorian, meaning it has enough furniture and knickknacks to furnish five houses. And Victoriana is hot so response to the auction invitations is encouraging.
Before the auction can take place, the Center is shocked when one of its regulars is murdered. The police write it off as a casual mugging, but his friends know that Chet would never have been in the part of town where his body was found. Another recycler reaching for a discarded can is knocked away from it by a mysterious man whose only goal seems to be keeping her from picking it up. What’s going on?
Having a detective in the family is handy. Max Bittersohn normally hunts down stolen art works, but he’s willing to spearhead an investigation to please his wife. The four of them go undercover, aided by Cousin Brooks Kelling and his new wife, the magnificent Theonia. Being a Gypsy, she knows a trick or two herself. The trail leads to a sleazy bar with a collection of purple aluminum cans labeled for a nonexistent soft drink. What’s in those cans that’s so precious they must be watched and guarded to make sure they’re picked up by the right person? Is the Center being used for illegal purposes?
Max has a shrewd idea and is working with the police to develop it. Meanwhile, it’s auction night and the large crowd includes a man whom the Center workers recognize, even though he looks far different than when he brought cans to the center and he’s using a different name. Cousin Dolph’s hot temper takes over and he escorts the intruder to the door. When a dead body is found in a locked garden building, Dolph is suspect #1. The police are nervous about arresting a Kelling, but what can they do?
Did I mention that Max and Sarah are remodeling the Kelling summer home to serve as their permanent home? And that Sarah is heavily pregnant? Life is never boring around the Kelling-Bittersohn household. It’s a good mystery, with lots of humor. I’m loving this series.
Charlotte MacLeod worked for a Boston PR firm and rose to a vice-presidency before she retired. A woman who went that far up the corporate ladder in the 1940’s and 50’s had to be a tough cookie. If her books are any indication, she was also kind and compassionate.
I've realized why I like this series (written at the end of the Twentieth Century) although I normally prefer older mysteries. At the time of writing, MacLeod was elderly and (as older writers do) she wrote of a past time. Not the “Good Old Days” (which weren’t good for everyone) but of a time when you could show compassion for the less fortunate without being accused of being weak or a “bleeding heart” or a card-carrying communist determined to overthrow the government
And speaking of revolutions, formerly meek Sarah Kelling is making waves in her Boston Brahmin family. Neglected by her parents and orphaned early, married to a much-older cousin while still a teen, and dominated by him and his mother, the family never expected her to become a rebel. Now she’s married (gasp!) a Jew and introduced two women into the family who don’t pass the traditional tests for Kelling brides.
Mary was a hard-worker who became homeless when her retirement proved inadequate to deal with the rising cost of living. She’s now married to Cousin Dolph, who inherited a fortune from his crabby aunt and uncle. Mary knows the importance of earning money from recycling cans and bottles to the elderly poor and homeless, so they’ve started a Senior Citizen Recycling Center to make life easier for those forced to scavenge for small change.
Now they’re working to open a low-cost housing center and they decide to have an auction to raise money. The huge house Dolph inherited is typically Victorian, meaning it has enough furniture and knickknacks to furnish five houses. And Victoriana is hot so response to the auction invitations is encouraging.
Before the auction can take place, the Center is shocked when one of its regulars is murdered. The police write it off as a casual mugging, but his friends know that Chet would never have been in the part of town where his body was found. Another recycler reaching for a discarded can is knocked away from it by a mysterious man whose only goal seems to be keeping her from picking it up. What’s going on?
Having a detective in the family is handy. Max Bittersohn normally hunts down stolen art works, but he’s willing to spearhead an investigation to please his wife. The four of them go undercover, aided by Cousin Brooks Kelling and his new wife, the magnificent Theonia. Being a Gypsy, she knows a trick or two herself. The trail leads to a sleazy bar with a collection of purple aluminum cans labeled for a nonexistent soft drink. What’s in those cans that’s so precious they must be watched and guarded to make sure they’re picked up by the right person? Is the Center being used for illegal purposes?
Max has a shrewd idea and is working with the police to develop it. Meanwhile, it’s auction night and the large crowd includes a man whom the Center workers recognize, even though he looks far different than when he brought cans to the center and he’s using a different name. Cousin Dolph’s hot temper takes over and he escorts the intruder to the door. When a dead body is found in a locked garden building, Dolph is suspect #1. The police are nervous about arresting a Kelling, but what can they do?
Did I mention that Max and Sarah are remodeling the Kelling summer home to serve as their permanent home? And that Sarah is heavily pregnant? Life is never boring around the Kelling-Bittersohn household. It’s a good mystery, with lots of humor. I’m loving this series.
March 12, 2023
The very pregnant Sarah Kelling Bittersohn is drawn into a plan by her Cousin Dolph and his wife Mary to hold an auction of their home’s surfeit of items collected by generations of Kellings, both in order to clear out the house to some degree and to raise money for a housing project they would like to start, converting an old warehouse into senior citizens’ social housing. They are aided in this scheme by members of their charity, the Senior Citizens Recycling Center, an organization which sees poor senior citizens collecting cans and other debris and turning their finds into the Center for cash. The SCRC is run largely by volunteers and has also become a useful place to keep Osmond Loveday, once an employee of Cousin Dolph’s family and now superannuated but still dependent, busy. When Sarah and Max realize that there is more going on at the SCRC than meets the eye, and a senior citizen is found dead, apparently the victim of a mugging, the race is on to catch a killer before he strikes again…. The seventh book in the Sarah Kelling/Max Bittersohn series is quite the treat: it’s got everything from a muck-raking “journalist” who is not above creating a fracas to spice up his stories to a series of artworks made of seaweed, and a pregnant Sarah on top of it all! The Beacon Hill house has come back into the series this time around, which I am happy about because I like that setting, but as ever the real stars of the show are Sarah and her innumerable relatives, all of whom have either endearing or exasperating little quirks; recommended, but best to begin with the first book, “The Family Vault,” to get full value for your money!
October 21, 2024
Recycling at its inception...what a good idea? Only a couple victims this go around...
Love her books. The plotting is getting better, clearer.
Love the commitment of the characters to the causes they espouse... Especially, the quirky Kellings.
Sarah and Max Bitter sign get involved up to their eyeballs, as usual. Both are committed to their families no matter how quirky and sometimes downright silly they are.
The mysteries are engaging and fun and sometimes tragic and sometimes dangerous and sometimes sad...though the main characters seem to hold on to their ideas, ideals (even horribly misguided, at times), and plots and plans with an energy and intent that is hard to gainsay.
I recommend this author for her colorful, descriptive, imaginative, and clever language, puns ,and quotes.
I love her descriptions of Boston and environs and the places and people one visits along the way.
History, mystery, mayhem, murder, plus laughter, love, romance and absurd situations all add up to stories worth reading.
I recommend these books, heartily!
Love her books. The plotting is getting better, clearer.
Love the commitment of the characters to the causes they espouse... Especially, the quirky Kellings.
Sarah and Max Bitter sign get involved up to their eyeballs, as usual. Both are committed to their families no matter how quirky and sometimes downright silly they are.
The mysteries are engaging and fun and sometimes tragic and sometimes dangerous and sometimes sad...though the main characters seem to hold on to their ideas, ideals (even horribly misguided, at times), and plots and plans with an energy and intent that is hard to gainsay.
I recommend this author for her colorful, descriptive, imaginative, and clever language, puns ,and quotes.
I love her descriptions of Boston and environs and the places and people one visits along the way.
History, mystery, mayhem, murder, plus laughter, love, romance and absurd situations all add up to stories worth reading.
I recommend these books, heartily!
October 22, 2025
It took me so long to finish this that by the end I just didn't care who did what or why. Maybe you need to start this series from the 1st one. Coming in at #7 I felt a little lost. All these upper crust Bostonians to remember how they're related. I just couldn't get into it, it's so different from the cozy mysteries I usually read. Rich people instead of ordinary people, fancy educations using phrases I'm not familiar with (& I'm no slouch, BA degree & fairly well read), big city instead of small town, throwing around expressions in German & French and...Hebrew(?) Yiddish(?)...without translation, as if everyone knows them. Reminded me a little of Thomas Wolfe's "Look Homeward, Angel", that was full of Greek & Latin (amongst others) because of the classical education the kid got; you try finding translations for those online! Anyway, I see from the average rating that most liked it & the cover says Publishers Weekly thought it was "hilarious" (altho a 1-word quote is always suspect), so I guess I'm in the minority, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.
February 21, 2021
Sarah is about eight months pregnant but she and Max are still out and about even visiting the Senior Center her cousins Dolph and Mary run. It is somewhat a charity but really allows homeless seniors a place to stay that is warm and dry. They can volunteer to earn things like stockings (most of them preferring not to get money) or they can bring in recycling that the center can then turn in for money. In a previous book, Dolph had inherited a house stuffed-full of ... well, stuff. In this book, our favorite characters decide to auction off all of that stuff in order to raise money for the center and the warehouse they are turning into housing. Unfortunately, one of the seniors has been found dead by an apparent mugging and it sends them all down a rabbit hole.
The storyline was engaging and character development lovely. The mystery itself was... well, just an odd solution but in line with the rest of the books in the series.
The storyline was engaging and character development lovely. The mystery itself was... well, just an odd solution but in line with the rest of the books in the series.
November 27, 2020
The Recycled Citizen (#7) — Charlotte MacLeod (23 chapters + Epilogue) Nov. 24-26, 2020
Sarah is pregnant and Max has taken to being more at home because he wants to be a good father. He has become very domesticated with Sarah, but even so things happen in Sarah’s extended family. This time it is Dolph and Mary. When a long time patron of their citizen’s group ends up dead in a part of town he would never be caught in, a mystery starts to unfold, especially when money is found that he has left to Mary.
Number seven in this series was a much needed boost in this series which has been up and down (and now up again) in reading. This book was plain fun to read and it read very fast. Many of the chapters weren’t longish, so that helped as well.
Also, an interesting twist happens as the case is getting wrapped up, which was a nice surprise.
Four stars.
Sarah is pregnant and Max has taken to being more at home because he wants to be a good father. He has become very domesticated with Sarah, but even so things happen in Sarah’s extended family. This time it is Dolph and Mary. When a long time patron of their citizen’s group ends up dead in a part of town he would never be caught in, a mystery starts to unfold, especially when money is found that he has left to Mary.
Number seven in this series was a much needed boost in this series which has been up and down (and now up again) in reading. This book was plain fun to read and it read very fast. Many of the chapters weren’t longish, so that helped as well.
Also, an interesting twist happens as the case is getting wrapped up, which was a nice surprise.
Four stars.
March 13, 2018
Early Bird Book Deal | An obvious culprit from the start, but a more enjoyable and evenly written installment than some in the series | For a change, both Sarah and Max are well utilized in this one, and we spend time with some of the best of the Kelling clan. There are so many Kellings that they actually make solutions pretty clear; if the book is populated with 8 or 9 relatives in addition to Sarah and Max, there simply isn't room for many other characters to be introduced. That makes the suspect list very short. Far-fetched drug running concept, but I'm not looking for realism in that regard in my cozy mysteries.
February 8, 2019
The Kelling clan is up to good with a recycling center scheme to give dignity to down and out seniors by having them go about cleaning up recyclables from the streets and bins and paying them for the work. But then one of the recyclers gets dead in an apparent mugging that is suspicious by location, and when a few grains of narcotic are found in his shopping bag the Boston Kellings use all of their collective skills and imagination to ferret out the truth. Lots of fun!
Andi Arndt is the creative narrator.
Andi Arndt is the creative narrator.
August 17, 2024
I figured out early on who the "bad guy" was, but that did not interfere at all with my enjoyment of how the mystery played out.
This is the first book I have read in this series, but it is not the first book of the series. I was a little at sea not knowing who most of the characters were, so I do recommend starting at the beginning, not in the middle.
An ingenious scheme uses a non-profit for drug trafficking. This racket might have gone on successfully much longer, but one of the innocent senior citizens in the non-profit is mugged and dies. And thus the unraveling begins.
This is the first book I have read in this series, but it is not the first book of the series. I was a little at sea not knowing who most of the characters were, so I do recommend starting at the beginning, not in the middle.
An ingenious scheme uses a non-profit for drug trafficking. This racket might have gone on successfully much longer, but one of the innocent senior citizens in the non-profit is mugged and dies. And thus the unraveling begins.
November 30, 2022
Love the whole bunch!
Sarah Kelling and her husband Max Bittersohn are fabulous characters. I have read and listened to nearly all the books at different times and have started back again. The writing is so good! Ms McLeod has a way with words and does such interesting things with vocabulary. Sarah is very pregnant throughout this and Max is Max. It is somewhat like reading but it's just so well written that you have to read it.
Sarah Kelling and her husband Max Bittersohn are fabulous characters. I have read and listened to nearly all the books at different times and have started back again. The writing is so good! Ms McLeod has a way with words and does such interesting things with vocabulary. Sarah is very pregnant throughout this and Max is Max. It is somewhat like reading but it's just so well written that you have to read it.
August 16, 2020
I absolutely love this series and am happily reading my way through it. The language and the characters are so different from anything else I read. The books seem they could be set in the early 1900s, but are actually much more contemporary. These books are not for everyone. But they are for ME!
January 8, 2021
A nice cozy, filled with eccentric characters, humor, and a mystery. Max and Sarah are a sweet couple and bring together their Boston families for a relaxing read. MacLeod creates a Nick and Norah type of a mystery solving duo who are charming and rely on their families' quirky members for that Bostonian insight on history and personality.
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May 25, 2021After first reading this book, The Recycled Citizen has become one of my favorites. When reading, I remembered very bright characters who then did not leave my head for a long time. Here is described the kindness to the old people who help the elderly, which is lacking in our world today. Look how many beggars are on the streets.
September 8, 2021
This is the one where Dolph’s Senior Citizen Recycling Center is troubled with muggings and a drug ring, and Sarah herself is great with child.
I appreciate Macleod’s practicality here—Sarah may be a protagonist, but she’s believably expecting and she falls asleep after major exertions and factors in bathroom breaks. It’s a fun one.
I appreciate Macleod’s practicality here—Sarah may be a protagonist, but she’s believably expecting and she falls asleep after major exertions and factors in bathroom breaks. It’s a fun one.
August 5, 2024
Reasons I like this book: I like how Sarah is super down to earth (always talking about how to feed people cheap), I like that the family she likes are so bizarre, and I like that I always have to look up vocabulary words.
Things clearly not on this list: plot. I feel like the story was kind of dumb. This time I even figured it out very early. But I can't stop reading them.
Things clearly not on this list: plot. I feel like the story was kind of dumb. This time I even figured it out very early. But I can't stop reading them.
July 12, 2025
Someone is drug running through the Senior Citizens Recycling Centre.
A senior citizen is mugged and dumped somewhere he wouldn't go. Sara and Max are helping organise an auction to raise cash to renovate a factory into bedsits for OAPs . You meet assorted members of the Kelling clan as well as a slimey muck raking reporter. Max and Sara sort it out at the end.
A senior citizen is mugged and dumped somewhere he wouldn't go. Sara and Max are helping organise an auction to raise cash to renovate a factory into bedsits for OAPs . You meet assorted members of the Kelling clan as well as a slimey muck raking reporter. Max and Sara sort it out at the end.
July 31, 2018
This is a delightful series that I re-read whenever I'm feeling down. Ms MacLeod has left a legacy of good writing and good humor.
May 30, 2019
I love Max ad Sarah..and all the quirky Kellings.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews