A Groom with a View by Jill Churchill (1999) 291 pages
Jane Jeffry is planning a wedding - but not her own. She's being paid handsomely to create the fabulous event the bride's rich daddy has always dreamed of. With the help of her friend Shelley, who thinks holding a ceremony at a remote, falling-down old monastery-turned-hunt club is a hoot, Jane plans to turn the moosehead-lined walls of the ancient abbey into a wedding wonderland. But before the wedding day arrives, a dark shadow falls over the hallowed halls. A violent storm knocks the lights out, and someone takes a slippery slide to sudden death - with, apparently, a little help. Jane quickly steps into the role of investigator, but before she can supply the police with answers, the ceremony begins - and turns into a killer of an occasion.
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Really enjoyable read. Jane and Shelley are fun to read, as always. I plan to read a lot more by this author, as well as a lot more cozies, period.
B+
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Finished - Aug. 2, 2007
Remainder by Tom Mccarthy (2007) 320 pages
McCarthy's debut novel, set in London, takes a clever conceit and pumps it up with vibrant prose to such great effect that the narrative's pointlessness is nearly a nonissue. The unnamed narrator, who suffers memory loss as the result of an accident that "involved something falling from the sky," receives an £8.5 million settlement and uses the money to re-enact, with the help of a "facilitator" he hires, things remembered or imagined. He buys an apartment building to replicate one that has come to him in a vision and then populates it with people hired to re-enact, over and over again, the mundane activities he has seen his imaginary neighbors performing. He stages both ordinary acts (the fixing of a punctured tire) and violent ones (shootings and more), each time repeating the events many times and becoming increasingly detached from reality and fascinated by the scenarios his newfound wealth has allowed him to create—even though he professes he doesn't "want to understand them." McCarthy's evocation of the narrator's absorption in his fantasy world as it cascades out of control is brilliant all the way through the abrupt climax.
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This was an extremely disturbing read. The ending is very abrupt, but while I would have liked to have known what happened to the main character out of curiousity, I also really didn't care what happened to him. Glad I got this one from the library.
D
McCarthy's debut novel, set in London, takes a clever conceit and pumps it up with vibrant prose to such great effect that the narrative's pointlessness is nearly a nonissue. The unnamed narrator, who suffers memory loss as the result of an accident that "involved something falling from the sky," receives an £8.5 million settlement and uses the money to re-enact, with the help of a "facilitator" he hires, things remembered or imagined. He buys an apartment building to replicate one that has come to him in a vision and then populates it with people hired to re-enact, over and over again, the mundane activities he has seen his imaginary neighbors performing. He stages both ordinary acts (the fixing of a punctured tire) and violent ones (shootings and more), each time repeating the events many times and becoming increasingly detached from reality and fascinated by the scenarios his newfound wealth has allowed him to create—even though he professes he doesn't "want to understand them." McCarthy's evocation of the narrator's absorption in his fantasy world as it cascades out of control is brilliant all the way through the abrupt climax.
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This was an extremely disturbing read. The ending is very abrupt, but while I would have liked to have known what happened to the main character out of curiousity, I also really didn't care what happened to him. Glad I got this one from the library.
D
Finished - July 25, 2007
A Farewell to Yarns by Jill Churchill (1991) 239 pages
Life is hectic enough for suburban single mom Jane Jeffry. She's trying to survive the cutthroat church bazaar politics, and finishing the "afghan from hell" at the same time. What she doesn't need is an unwelcome visit from old acquaintance Phyllis Wagner, and her illmannered teenage son nobody knew about.
When Phyllis is suddenly murdered, Jane's life becomes even more unmanageable. There's no shortage of suspects, and Jane knows better than to concentrate on only the most despicable of them. But with a cold-blooded murderer in their midst, Jane had better be careful not to get strangled in the twisted threads she's trying to unravel.
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I haven't read a Cozy mystery in quite a few years. I've been very excited about the challenge starting in September, and couldn't wait to read one to refresh my memory. It was great to get back to this genre, and I think I've gone a little nuts on half.com, ebay.com and paperbackswap.com purchasing books I've missed out on from some of my favorite authors and some new ones. Jill Churchill was a new author to me. I really enjoyed this book, but the typos drove me insane. I'm looking forward to reading more by her, and hope she has a better proofreader for her other books!
B-
Life is hectic enough for suburban single mom Jane Jeffry. She's trying to survive the cutthroat church bazaar politics, and finishing the "afghan from hell" at the same time. What she doesn't need is an unwelcome visit from old acquaintance Phyllis Wagner, and her illmannered teenage son nobody knew about.
When Phyllis is suddenly murdered, Jane's life becomes even more unmanageable. There's no shortage of suspects, and Jane knows better than to concentrate on only the most despicable of them. But with a cold-blooded murderer in their midst, Jane had better be careful not to get strangled in the twisted threads she's trying to unravel.
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I haven't read a Cozy mystery in quite a few years. I've been very excited about the challenge starting in September, and couldn't wait to read one to refresh my memory. It was great to get back to this genre, and I think I've gone a little nuts on half.com, ebay.com and paperbackswap.com purchasing books I've missed out on from some of my favorite authors and some new ones. Jill Churchill was a new author to me. I really enjoyed this book, but the typos drove me insane. I'm looking forward to reading more by her, and hope she has a better proofreader for her other books!
B-
Finished - July 17, 2007
The Devil Who Tamed Her by Johanna Lindsey (2007) 455 pages
Ophelia Reid is a beauty with a bad reputation. Having purposely wrecked her engagement to Duncan MacTavish, a future marquis, Ophelia wants to make her own choice of a husband. Raphael Locke is the most sought-after young lord in England. He instantly disliked Ophelia when she caused a scandal to avoid marriage to his friend MacTavish, but having comforted her in a tearful moment, he begins to wonder if she's not all bad. So when MacTavish claims that Ophelia will never be anything but a spiteful beauty, Rafe bets his friend that he can turn her into a kind-hearted lady who will one day make a good match, just not with himself.
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Very enjoyable read. I have been a long time fan of Johanna Lindsey, and while I was able to get into the book very easily, I still felt it was lacking something. By the end though, I was unable to put the book down and shed a few tears.
B-
Ophelia Reid is a beauty with a bad reputation. Having purposely wrecked her engagement to Duncan MacTavish, a future marquis, Ophelia wants to make her own choice of a husband. Raphael Locke is the most sought-after young lord in England. He instantly disliked Ophelia when she caused a scandal to avoid marriage to his friend MacTavish, but having comforted her in a tearful moment, he begins to wonder if she's not all bad. So when MacTavish claims that Ophelia will never be anything but a spiteful beauty, Rafe bets his friend that he can turn her into a kind-hearted lady who will one day make a good match, just not with himself.
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Very enjoyable read. I have been a long time fan of Johanna Lindsey, and while I was able to get into the book very easily, I still felt it was lacking something. By the end though, I was unable to put the book down and shed a few tears.
B-
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