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FORM FOR MURDER

Name: FORM FOR MURDER
Author: Melissa Wenner
ISBN: 978-0-9815823-0-6

by Melissa Wenner ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Appealing despite some flaws.

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A cozy mystery with literary aspirations by first-time author Wenner.

St. Louis tax preparer Amanda French is disturbed when she discovers inconsistencies in the tax forms of members of the Blue Lace Ladies Investment Club–her investigation makes her take a closer look at the deaths of two of its members, sisters Mary and Beatrice. The two heirs to the Carter cat food fortune died within six months of each other in bizarre accidents that the police attributed to the women’s dotty nature. Amanda, like the sisters’ Blue Lace friends, is insulted by the suggestion and believes Beatrice and Mary may have been murdered. Realtor Priscilla, handling the sale of Beatrice’s house, becomes involved when the home is vandalized. Amanda and Priscilla’s prime suspect, Mary’s stepson Tom, has ironclad alibis for both women’s deaths, and little apparent motive, considering he can’t inherit his stepmother’s estate. However, Ret Cale, Mary’s household manager and Tom’s lover, seems to have even less motive, but her shady behavior moves her to the top of the suspect list. Looking into the deaths reunites Amanda with her mother’s blue-blooded, blue-haired college friends and forces her back into St. Louis society. A middle-aged woman who is struggling to rebuild her own life after financial setbacks and the deaths of both her husband and her mother, Amanda is an enormously sympathetic character. Unfortunately, the numerous secondary characters are not as finely drawn. Amanda’s love of literature, particularly the Greek tragedies, helps her discern a number of eerie similarities between literature and the murders. Here the author may lose some readers, if confusion over the numerous Carter relatives doesn’t exhaust them first. While an ambitious and innovative twist on a traditional cozy mystery, the book’s symbolism is too heavy-handed–it’s improbable that the murderers would have such a deep understanding of ancient Greek texts. Endless discussion among the characters, combined with overblown reactions, replaces action that would have enlivened the plot and made for less tedium.

Appealing despite some flaws.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 978-0-9815823-0-6

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.