[.ca] All Hallows' Evil: A Susan Henshaw Mystery (ISBN 0449147452)

Not the best Henshaw mystery but worth a read:
It's Halloween and the body on the floor of new library could be just a joke, but it isn't. Later on, the body of a well known TV anchorman is found stabbed the same way on his front porch. Susan naturally starts to investigate and is joined by her old friend and now the new police chief, Brett Fortescue. As usual, I enjoyed this mystery. Ms Wolzien always tells a good story. I was annoyed by two things. What sane woman lets a stranger and a rude entourage invade her home, and why wasn't the rude, insensitive and nosy neighbor Amy Ellsworth thrown in as a murder victim? I certainly wanted to dispose of her by the end of the book.

Halloween murders:
Usually the Hancock Library is a peaceful place, but in this book it is anything but, as Susan Henshaw discovers a dead body there on Halloween. Shortly thereafter, another body is discovered and Susan begins some amateur sleuthing with her friend Kathleen, a former policewoman. Things become a bit absurd when a local celebrity decides to move in with Susan (whom she barely knows) because she's upset over the death of her husband. After this motive is stated, the woman continues her life without much remorse over the death while continuing to live in the Henshaw house. Every time Susan arrives home, another member of the celebrity's entourage has taken up residence or is at least demanding food and other favors. The unlikely situations continue as her neighbor Amy pops in and out of her house at will and makes herself right at home. Anyone who puts up with this much interference in her life, would be an unlikely candidate for unravelling a mystery! Even though cozies are designed to be fun, the reader needs more realism than is shown in this book. The strength of this series lies in the repeated characters and their interactions, not in the plots.

Halloween in Hancock--Very Scary:
Susan thought that the body on the floor of the library was a Halloween joke, but it turned out to be real. Later that day, well known anchorman Jason Armstrong is found dead on his front porch by trick or treaters. Susan ends up with his partner/wife and her entourage trashing her house and turning her life upside down, while she, Kathleen and new police chief and old friend Brett Fortesque investigate the murder. This is a pretty good cosy with well developed characters, both new and old. It is however improbable that anyone would put up with Rebecca West and Company or the horrible Amy Ellsworth. I am surprised that the author didn't take the opportunity to kill her off and be done with her.

Halloween With the Henshaws:
The Hancock library is usually a place where people can kick back and relax with one of their favorite mysteries. But when it involves Susan Henshaw, it doesn't involve relaxing. It involves detective work. When Susan finds a dead body in the library, she thinks that the body is fake, until the man starts gasping for help. Soon Jason Armstrong, the celebrity host of a morning talk-show appears dead, and a homeless man takes the credit for both murders. Susan knows that he's lying, and insists on finding out who the true murderer is. On top of detective work, she has trick or treaters, camera people, and demanding guests in her home. Could life get any more complicated? When it involves Susan Henshaw, it can. This was an exciting new mystery by Valerie Wolzien. The characters were enjoyable, and the mystery, while somewhat cliched, was exciting. A must-read novel for all fans of Susan Henshaw.

Could've used a good editor.:
Valerie Wolzien, All Hallows' Evil (Fawcett, 1992) All Hallows' Evil was my first, and very likely last, foray into the world of Valerie Wolzien's bedroom community of Hancock, Connecticut. Not necessarily because the book was bad, or the mystery wasn't workable. It's the little niggling details that really dropped the ball here. Amateur sleuth Susan Henshaw is at the library one Halloween day when she stumbles upon a body in the stacks. It looks like a prop, but turns out not to be. Later on, the town's newest celeb, morning talk show host Jason Armstrong, turns up dead on his own front porch. Obviously, something is not right in the town of Hancock. Susan and her sidekick Kathleeen, with a little help from the town's new sheriff, get to work trying to figure out whodunit. All well and good, to be sure. Nothing we haven't seen and enjoyed in a passel of other mystery novels. What sets this one apart is some painful sentence construction, grammatical errors that are too consistent to be editors' mistakes, and some continuity errors that are almost painful to behold (my favorite: about two-thirds of the way through the novel, Susan gets home late. Her husband immediately jumps up and says, "Where have you been? I was worried about you?" They barely have time to get another two sentences in the conversation before Susan asks him why he wasn't worried, and he not only admits to it, but then goes on to offer up a valuable clue. Oops.) You may be better off sticking with that passel of other mystery novels. Stylewise, the first name that came to mind when I tried to think of a comparison was Marcia Muller; if you enjoy Wolzien's work but have been bothered by the niggles above, you might want to give Muller a try. ** 1/2