“Strangled Prose,” by Joan Hess

FM's rating:

1.      Premise 9

2.      Prose 10

3.      Plot 8

4.      Characters 9

5.      Overall 9

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

Joan Hess has received numerous awards for her writing over the years and has been referred to as “the patron saint of comic mystery.”  I think she deserves even more acclaim and popularity than she gets, ranking right up there with Sue Grafton and well above many other “household name” mystery writers.  Maybe if she would “get serious” that would happen.  But then, reading her books wouldn’t be as much fun.  This is the first book of her “Claire Malloy” series, and it is as good as the later ones, all superb.  The murder of a Romance Writer – allegedly murdered because of the contents of her latest novel - is such a great premise in itself, but the treatment of the topic is wry humor at its best. 





Here’s the December line-up!
 

“Saints of the Shadow Bible,” by Ian Rankin [12/5]

“Not a Creature Was Stirring,” by Jane Haddam [12/12]

“The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner,” by James Hogg [12/19]

“The Christmas Night Murder,” by Lee Harris [12/26]

 

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for the next month, please do so.  Also, if you have already read one on our list, you are invited you to give your ratings/comments for that book!)