A Groom with a View (Jane Jeffry Mysteries, No. 11) (ISBN 0380794500)

Pleasant, Easy Read:
I have bought and read all of Jane Churchill's Jane Jeffry novels in paperback. They're an enjoyable, quick read. Her style is competent but basic. There's a dash of humor, a lot of comfortable, neighborly dialogue generally unrelated to the plot, and characters that are interesting but not captivating. My major emphasis in professionally published books is on style. The printed word is the last bastion of our rich language, and therefore correctness should be a strong consideration. Heaven knows I'm far from being a grammarian (but I'm struggling to learn after a less-than-perfect education), and there are a couple things that bother me about her books. Yeah, a "couple things." You'd think after umpteen books, someone might have mentioned to her that it's a "couple *of* things." I find this consistent, persistent error distracting and annoying. In dialogue, a "couple'a things" is acceptable to indicate a character's manner of speech, but in narrative, it's a no-no. Unless the rules of grammar have changed since I was a child, you can have a "few things" or a "couple of things," but not a "couple things." Finally, the books should be read in order, and I think the earlier ones are better. The first books in the series have more of a mystery plot, with clues presented for readers, and a generally clever solution. Later books don't provide all the clues, so when Jane figures out whodunnit, the reader hasn't been privvy to the information prior to the solution.

The worst book I've read in my life.:
I have read many bad books, but this is the first of Jane Jeffry's that's been put into my hands. And it is a great example of writing so poor and predictable that each paragraph is a cringer. The main character is an adult version of the smart-aleck child and her friends are of her type. They spend their time sniping at the cartoons who pose as secondary charcters or bitng back some smart-aleck remark that the reader has to read. There's also plenty of warm-hearted gush such as women weaned on women's magazines like. Most silly of all is that the main character runs into person after person who want nothing more that to discuss in detail with strangers everything that they know about everyone involved. Her readers must be semi-literates, overworked to the point at which they don't want anything but pablum. Jane Jeffry - criminal tree murderer.

Nice Easy Read:
I'm a big fan of Ms. Churchill and the Jane Jeffry series, and while I enjoyed this book, I definitely didn't feel it was one of her best. I think what threw it off for me was the whole premise of Jane being asked by a total stranger to plan their wedding, and her agreeing to it. It would've made more sense to me if Shelley had been the one planning the wedding, since she's always been presented as the "take-charge" part of the team in all the previous books, and Jane had gone along to assist her. The whole thing being set up as it was just seemed odd to me, and not at all in character for the Jane and Shelley I've come to know through reading this series. All in all, I still recommend this series highly. This latest installment wasn't bad...it just wasn't up to the par I'm used to with Ms. Churchill.

Jane Jeffry is a bouncer.:
No, she doesn't work as one, but she always seems to bounce back--gracefully and easily--from the somewhat strange events in her life. Or, to put it another way, she bounces the lemons handed to her by life (which everyone knows is the way to make a lemon produce more juice) and turns them into stunning versions of lemonade, lemon pie, or whatever strikes her fancy. Of course, the forty-something widow also has three wonderful kids, a full-steam-ahead next door neighbor and best friend, Shelley Nowack, and a to-die-for-guy, police detective Mel VanDyne. Well, maybe not quite so far on that latter, but he is a 'certified' dish, no doubt about it. Even better, he seems to really like and respect Jane as a person. High marks in anyone's book, I should think. If you've read any of the previous atrociously-punned titles about Jane, et al, you know that she and Shelley seem to find trouble under nearly every cabbage leaf they stumble over. The most recent book was no exception, distributing corpses for Christmas. But, out of that unseeming circumstance, an unusual opportunity made itself known to Jane. Livvy Thatcher is getting married, and being so impressed with Jane's management of the Christmas debacle, she asks Jane to organize and plan her wedding. Well, Jane's never done this before, but neither is she one to let such a trifling detail get in her way. Problem number one is the scene of the wedding. It is an old family estate--complete with tales of ghost and buried treasure--some hour-and-a-half west (or thereabouts) of Chicago; a former hunting lodge that had previously been a monastery. Disregarding her qualms, Jane plunges in, arranging flowers (you, too, will 'love' Larkspur!), food, bridesmaid's dresses, the bride's gown, and the music, not to mention assigning rooms to the stay-over guests, either at the lodge or the nearest motel. She didn't however, arrange for murder. That was problem number two, and brings Mel to the scene to confer with the local constabulary. Problem number six or so is the semi-reluctance of the bride to get to the point of being able to say 'I do'. Not to worry. Livvy may indeed be married, but she's not going to be a wife. At least not for a while yet. An assortment of oddly-matched guests, and even more odd family on both sides, suddenly seem to swirl all around the not-so-very festivities before Jane manages to unveil the killer. I loved the different setting and the somewhat more-than-eccentric elderly Aunts and Uncle, and all the big and little details that Jane had to master in order to produce a perfectly beautiful wedding. But--although the killer and the motive for having done so did make a certain amount of sense within the confines of the story, it still sort of came out of left field. There really wasn't much build-up in the way of clues as to just who really was the fiend. Or why. Still, though, once unmasked, there could have been no other culprit. Will Jane continue in her new career field? Stay tuned. . .

Bed & Breakfast Heaven? Ghosts of Monks? Buffalo Heads, & Pillow Pops?:
A sort of Gothic romance is opened with wedding preparations, by Jane... Bad-boy-gigolo has already met and matched Daddy's girl... A monastery has long ago morphed into a hunting lodge... Jane and Shelley snuggle into a dim, dingy setting with old host Joe, an apparent "grounds guy" minus hospitality, plus grumbling growls... It was easy for me to get into this one, partially riding on Jane's pride in being considered (and paid for performing as) an expert organizer for "party time" celebrations (as evidenced by Jane hostess-ing a neighborhood cookie exchange in the previous novel, # 10, MERCHANT OF MENACE; see my reviews and Listmania on this series). I also slipped right into the exploration of the rambling hodge podge of the sparsely lit lodge, and the work toward warming up stark monk cells for family members' temporary residence in the ramshackle structure. The housekeeper/hostess in me activated automatically, that same woman who had once sprouted illusions of designing a B & B Inn, the one who wrote a series of articles on those luxurious old house conversions, titling the series a Bed & Breakfast Walk About. (I've dedicated one of my AOL Hometown, freebie web sites to collecting some of those articles, and I'd like to submit them as Amazon "Shorts" when/if time permits). The lodge structure was described with just the right amount of detail; I was easily able to conjure it in my mind and settle in. Scones, anyone? Those pastries would definitely have fit in this ambiance, hot-and-flaky if the place were to be successfully caterpillar-ed into a cozy Inn, old-and cold of not. Black Jasmine tea (not green) ... with heavy cream ... would have to accompany. I wasn't sure how I would incorporate (tapestr-ate?) the monastic stark, and hunters' dead animal heads into a luxury Inn's thematic threads, but I was willing to let the decorative thoughts percolate as I continued the read. Rubbing hands together, I was in. Wild electric rain storms, Jane wandering by lightning light through the Inn at night, running over clues, brushing by other (reclusive) ramblers, just missing a stumble over a body at the head of the stairs ... The tapestry drew taught; dark Gothic jewel tones had been wrought. Okay, to be true to the plot, Jane didn't actually discover the body, and that event didn't occur until morning light (page 66 in the mass market paperback). Possibly I should admit that, before I had begun reading this novel, when I had discovered that this offering had Jane planning a wedding, my nose tried but failed a scrunch attempt. Though fantasy could be my middle name, I've never been into fancy. My current husband and I eloped in Santa Fe with his German Shepard providing the blessing, no shot guns cracked. That simple, almost planless occurrence was conceived a week prior to the "event" which was three weeks after our first date. Love had taken root rapidly, but "first sight" was more like, "How long have I known you?" That being my style, the absolute antithesis, every-which-way, of the GROOM WITH A VIEW deal, I was mildly dreading the attempt to connect with Jane's behind-the-scenes orchestration of an elaborately staged wedding. Then, as I began reading and noticed obvious Gothic tinges bleeding into the setting, I was further backed up by thoughts of trite. HOWever, any resistance to GROOM's trailing of dusty plots from bygone literary looms, any resistance from my off-beat, non-ceremonious persona was kaboshed as thoughts of a "Sugarplum Inn" fancied in. Oh! A B & B in the making? My title for an Inn was sweet and serendipitous, but how would monk-and-hunter plumbs work in? I readily and headily read onward for mix-n-match clues. As the family and guests trickled into Jane & Shelley's Inn ... (Ah hah! Another possible B & B to cut the dust?) ... I became involved in the lusciously convoluted characters. In fact, this collection felt to be more delicately yet dangerously detailed than those from other offerings in this series. The rancid, slick, hair-tonic reek of the groom fascinated and puzzled; the bride's deadly deference to her father etched sympathy. The wig toting (toppling), elderly aunts tweaked brows; the staff played a delightful twinkle toes to a well honed tune. Actually, as I racked brain to list them, I noticed that each character had given intrigue to the nth ... charisma to a corona. I found myself wanting to fill this review by quoting the crisp passages of descriptive introduction of every person in this plot. Joe might have taken the cake, if that old "saying" would have allowed him to eat it. Who would want to take an inedible cake, I ask you. And, what about the wedding cake? You'll see, but not until the plot has heated to hot. Which reminds me that the chef's concoctions were extensively yummy, and delivered themselves well through the days during which the staff and wedding party remained in residence. To wit, see page 51, describing the best, twice-baked cornbread Jane had ever, would ever have. It appeared that in GROOM Jane had mastered (and was orchestrating) the many ingredients of "The Cozy." However, I hadn't noticed that adept literary conjuring until I had read over half-way into the story, and had begun enriching the bare bones (by adding pheromones) of my review. One of the most impressive of these ingredients actually had the gall to attempt a few steps outside cozy boundaries, firing pistons toward the mood of hard-boiled P. I. Yet, that scene stayed in-tapestry, adding richness in blacks, tans, and greys. That stray-attempt, "thread-bare recipe item" involved a clue-getting lunch, featuring Mel and a couple local gendarmes, one currently employed, the other a long-retired, gravel-pit type-of-guy, with the two folding-in additional characters of charm (with Old Spice). At that point it was obvious that Churchill was clearly a multi-faceted talent, subtly sauteing under-kernels which, in this # 11 in series, "popped" like old-country-corn in the entertaining variations mastered within this plot. As I continued the read, what I wanted to know was would the wedding go through. At first, I wanted it to. Later, sensing doom as the character-mix began dancing to dark, dunning tunes, I changed my rhyme. Okay, I admit it. The romantic within me was secretly hoping that somehow the groom would do the (frog) croak-to-crown (prince) thing. In this setting it would be a stretch-of-a-stretch. But, what with the groom's mother and brother simmering intriguingly in the background, completing an ensemble of a quietly heroic culture clash... Would Churchill do a mass redemption, a discriminating reprieve, or something better. Who would be saved; who 86'd? (Remember the 70's term for tossing an item into the trash?) Your choice to read and see. Sugar Daddy Inn? Sweet & Sour Sugarplum Inn? Joe's Old Commode B & B? Butt Out & Brains Inn? Where the Deer and the Antelope Plaaaayyy (dead) ... in Monk-Studded Heaven? Well, that's the long and the short of it. What's next, Churchill? Another pussycat on the cover? Maybe a Pink Panther, too, with daisies between his toes? New, or current cover design style? How about a jacket covered by a gorgeous, gummy oil painting of a scene in the story? (See my review of A KNIFE TO REMEMBER, a clue: bring back the artist with "GM" as signature). Oh. A Florist ... Does What? (See my Listmania for publishing date and a link to preorder THE ACCIDENTAL FLORIST, # 16 in the Jane Jeffry series) Here we go again. I like my flowers wild and free. Yet... maybe I can get them in a shop. Yeah, this author will somehow snag my interest, and I'll live cozily in that one, too. It's a hard job, but somebody's gotta do it. Don't kid yourself. Jane Jeffry's style always reads easy. Oops. I sense that surging percolation of humor bubbles. Gotta go. Cut & run! Speaking of which, in all fairness I should warn you about reading my review of # 12 in this series, MULCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. I allowed my effervescence to runeth-over in that one, and my tongue twisted true. You'll be slurping Alka-seltzer. Waiting for Godot's Flowering Dreams, Linda Shelnutt