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The House of Seven Mabels
A Jane Jeffry Mystery
Jill Churchill
William Morrow (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0-380-97736-2
Publication Date: August, 2002
List Price: $23.95
Synopsis (from the publisher): Homemaking is about to take on a whole new meaning for Jane Jeffry now that she's agreed to help restore and redecorate a decrepit old neighborhood mansion. The home's owner, the prosperously divorced Bitsy Burnside, considers herself to be a feminist to the max and wants an almost all-female crew to do the dirty work - prompting the quick-witted Shelley Nowack to dub the project "the House of Seven Mabels." With her best friend and decorating whiz Shelley on the estrogen-heavy team, Jane thinks this exhausting, plaster-dusty job may not be as unpleasant as it initially appeared to be.
Until, of course, things start to get very messy. It begins with a series of mean-spirited "pranks" - strange odors, mysterious electrical shorts, a myriad of petty annoyances designed to impede the progress of the fixer-uppers. And then the pranks turn deadly, leaving one of the workers lying lifeless at the foot of a staircase.
Tragic, yes, but an accident? Jane thinks not. And with the able assistance of Shelley, not to mention a little help from her best beau, Chicago detective Mel VanDyne, Jane's hoping she can construct a solid case and nail the assassin. Suspects are certainly in abundant supply. The surviving members of Bitsy's building brigade all had the opportunity. Joe Budley - the contractor originally hired, then fired when Bitsy had her "no men allowed" epiphany - had a motive. But the more Jane saws away at the truth, the more complicated the criminal blueprint appears. And she may be painting herself into a corner, leaving no exit if a crafty killer decides to make Jane Jeffry the next demolition project.
Review: The House of Seven Mabels is the 13th outing for Jane Jeffry in Jill Churchill's long-running cozy mystery series.
When the title of a book is more clever than the book itself, there's a problem. It's not that The House of Seven Mabels is a poorly written or constructed mystery; it's just that it's so predictable. The premise is promising, with Jane and her best friend Shelley hired by hard-core feminists to restore and redecorate a local mansion, but Churchill never delivers.
Fans of Jill Churchill and cozies in general will no doubt enjoy this latest entry in the Jane Jeffy series, but those looking for any originality in their mysteries should look elsewhere.
Review Copyright © 2002 Hidden Staircase Mystery Books
Other hardcover mysteries in this series by Jill Churchill:
War and Peas
A Jane Jeffry
Mystery
Avon Books (1996)
0-380-97323-5
Fear of Frying
A Jane Jeffry
Mystery
Avon Books (1997)
0-380-97324-3
Merchant of
Menace
A Jane Jeffry
Mystery
Avon Twilight (1998)
0-380-97569-6
A Groom with a
View
A Jane Jeffry
Mystery
William Morrow (1999)
0-380-97570-X
Mulch Ado About
Nothing
A Jane Jeffry
Mystery
William Morrow (2000)
0-380-97735-4
Bell, Book, and
Scandal
A Jane Jeffry
Mystery
HarperCollins (2003)
0-06-009797-3
A Midsummer
Night's Scream
A Jane Jeffry
Mystery
HarperCollins (2004)
0-06-009798-1
Omnimystery keyword(s) for The House of Seven Mabels:
Locations referenced: Chicago.
