The House of Seven Mabels (Jane Jeffry Mysteries, No. 13) - Hardcover

Churchill, Jill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0380977362 ISBN 13: 9780380977369

Publisher: William Morrow, 2002

Synopsis

Harried suburban single mom and delightfully incorrigible busybody Jane Jeffry returns to do some dangerous housecleaning in another charming whodunit from America's Agatha Award-winning answer to Dame Agatha Christie: Jill Churchill.

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 comer, leaving no exit if a crafty killer decides to make Jane Jeffry the next demolition project.

About this title

About the Author:

Jill Churchill has won the Agatha and Macavity Mystery Readers awards and was nominated for an Anthony Award for her bestselling Jane Jeffry series. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed Grace and Favor mysteries and lives in the Midwest.

From Booklist:

Jane Jeffry and her best friend and neighbor, Shelley, are both invited by an old classmate, Bitsy, now rich and divorced, to be the decorators for a crumbling Victorian pile she hopes to renovate. Jane and Shelley are put off not only by the house but also by Bitsy's high-handedness and her contractor, a sharp and controlling sort. The contractor ends up dead soon after, and things begin to go wrong in the renovation, even before Jane and Shelley have a workable contract. The plot falls into some really infelicitous holes: there's a lot of feminist bashing (and the odd connection that childhood abuse would make one into a rabid feminist). The good parts, though, are what continue to make this series appealing: Jane's care for her children and her detective boyfriend, Mel, and her relationship with Shelley, food, and shopping. In this one, she not only buys herself and Todd, her youngest, new computers, but she also gets working on that historical romance she has always wanted to write. GraceAnne DeCandido
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About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0380977362
• ISBN 13: 9780380977369
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240