August 29, 2008 at 4:03 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Historical Fiction, Mystery and Suspense
Who’s Sorry Now? by Jill Churchill (Historical mystery)
This is the latest in a series of historical mysteries set in Depression-era New York State. Robert and Lily Brewster are a brother and sister whose father lost their family’s money in the Crash and committed suicide, leaving them destitute. Forced to earn their livings in low-paying jobs because they are untrained for any kind of work, they’re delighted when a distant relative’s death leaves them with a substantial inheritance, albeit one with strings attached.
One of those strings leads to the Brewsters living in Voorburg, a small town on the Hudson River. Throughout the series, Robert and Lily have to come up with inventive ways to earn money, as stipulated in their great-uncle’s will. Since, though poor, they are better off than most, the Brewsters rarely do any regular work, but spend much of their leisure time helping the local Chief of Police to solve the many murders that plague their small town.
I care little about the mysteries in these books; I read them to find out what’s happening to all the characters, and for the descriptions of life during the Depression. Voorburg is charming, and all the books are undemanding comfort reads–Who’s Sorry Now? is no exception.
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Grace and Favor, Jill Churchill
May 21, 2008 at 9:54 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Mystery and Suspense
72. The Accidental Florist by Jill Churchill (Mystery) 209 p.
The Accidental Florist is the latest instalment in the Jane Jeffry mystery series. Like the others, it’s set in a suburb of Chicago, where Jane Jeffry is a widowed housewife, raising her three children and helping her cop boyfriend, Mel VanDyne, solve the occasional mystery. Now, after dating for so many years, Jane and Mel are about to tie the knot.
I liked this book well enough, but there wasn’t really any mystery in it. Mel works on a case, but it’s so easily solved it hardly seems to count, and Jane doesn’t get involved in it at all. I was always more interested in Jane’s life than in any of the crimes she solves, but the book was only about 200 pages. There could easily have been room for a real plot, or more depth added to the events that took place, if only the story had been expanded. There was also some name-dropping of people and products that I could have done without, but that’s something I rarely enjoy in any book.
Overall, this was a decent addition to the series, but only worth reading if you’ve already enjoyed some of the previous books and like the characters.
Pages read: 20,744
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Jane Jeffry, Jill Churchill
May 21, 2008 at 8:49 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Historical Fiction, Mystery and Suspense
70. Anything Goes by Jill Churchill (Historical mystery) 272 p.
Two years after the Crash and the suicide of their formerly-wealthy father, Robert and Lily Brewster are just scraping by, like so many others during the Depression. Living in a horrible, cramped apartment in New York City, the news that they have inherited almost two million dollars and a mansion in a small town seems too good to be true. And it is, because there’s a catch: before they can inherit, they must live in the house for ten years, and manage to support themselves through their own hard work and ingenuity.
Untrained to any sort of trade or career, the Brewsters aren’t sure they can fulfill the conditions of the will, but they’re determined to try. Soon after they move in, they discover that their benefactor, Great-Uncle Horatio, may actually have been murdered! Not wanting to spend their next ten years in Voorburg under suspicion, they decide to investigate the crime themselves.
This is a re-read for me. It’s the first in the Grace & Favor series, which I enjoy quite a bit, more for its characters and descriptions of life during the Depression than because of its mysteries. This is a nice, cozy, rainy-day kind of book.
Pages read: 20,219
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, A ~ Z Reading Challenge, Grace and Favor, Jill Churchill
