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A Cry for Self Help
A Kate Jasper Mystery
Jaqueline Girdner
Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-425-15630-3 (0425156303)
Publication Date: April, 1997
List Price: $21.95
Synopsis (from the publisher): Some called the magnetic, handsome Sam Skyler a self-help genius; to others he was a pompous scam artist who had grown adults wearing finger puppets to get in touch with their feelings at his overpriced seminars. But to Diana Atherton, he was her husband-to-be, which explained why, along with Kate and her fiance Wayne, they stood high atop a seaside cliff observing an aquatic wedding (with a SCUBA theme), the handiwork of a ritual consultant who created decidedly different weddings for her clients. But Skyler takes the plunge a little early and plummets to the rocks below. Now Kate is thrown into a murder investigation that quickly turns to a media frenzy - with Kate herself in the hot seat...
Review: Despite a cast of extraordinary characters, Jaqueline Girdner's eighth mystery to feature Jest Gifts owner Kate Jasper, A Cry For Self-Help, is exceptionally dreary.
A Cry For Self-Help starts with a prologue that, in tone and substance, seems written for a different book entirely. As to the plot, it is incomprehensible that the murder of Sam Skyler (which occurs in the first chapter) could have taken place unwitnessed given the large number of people milling about and the venue. Even taking a leap of faith (pun intended) on credibility, the author doesn't adequately explain in the end how the murderer accomplished it sight unseen.
No one speaks in a normal voice in this book. They scream. They yell. They shriek. Scarcely a page or two goes by without someone speaking loudly to someone else. And on the most inane subjects. Couple this with the frantic pace of the characters and, well, it's all quite exhausting.
A Cry For Self-Help isn't a badly written mystery. It's simply a poor excuse for one.
Review Copyright © 1997 Hidden Staircase Mystery Books
Other mysteries in this series by Jaqueline Girdner:
Adjusted
to Death
A Kate Jasper Mystery
Diamond Books (1990)
ISBN: 1-55773-453-4
The
Last Resort
A Kate
Jasper
Mystery
Diamond
Books (1991)
ISBN: 1-55773-525-5
Murder
Most Mellow
A Kate
Jasper
Mystery
Diamond
Books (1992)
ISBN: 1-55773-721-5
Fat-Free
and Fatal
A Kate Jasper Mystery
Diamond
Books
(1993)
ISBN: 1-55773-917-X
Tea-Totally
Dead
A Kate
Jasper
Mystery
Berkley Prime Crime (1994)
ISBN: 0-425-14210-8
A
Stiff Critique
A Kate
Jasper
Mystery
Berkley Prime Crime (1995)
ISBN: 0-425-14719-3
Most
Likely to Die
A Kate
Jasper
Mystery
Berkley Prime Crime (1996)
ISBN: 0-425-15145-X
When
Death Hits the Fan
A Kate
Jasper
Mystery
Berkley Prime Crime (1998)
ISBN: 0-425-16148-X
Murder on the Astral Plane
A Kate
Jasper
Mystery
Berkley Prime Crime (1999)
ISBN: 0-425-16701-1
Murder, My Deer
A Kate
Jasper
Mystery
Berkley Prime Crime (2000)
ISBN: 0-425-17328-3
A Sensitive Kind of Murder
A Kate
Jasper
Mystery
Berkley Prime Crime (2002)
ISBN: 0-425-18315-7
