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Title: The Merchant of Venus by Ellen Hart ISBN: 0-312-28905-7 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: 08 February, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Wonderful and Intricately Plotted Mystery
Comment: This is Minneapolis restaurateur Jane Lawless's tenth mystery outing, and the novels keep getting increasingly complex, not to mention more intricately plotted. Jane is still recovering from injuries suffered the previous fall when she was nearly killed, and in this book, she is more vulnerable than she has ever been in any of the previous books. She and her best buddy, Cordelia, travel to upstate Connecticut to an old mansion, Innishannon, to attend the wedding of Cordelia's estranged sister, Octavia, a stage actress who caught the attention of the living legend, Roland Lester. He's an 82-year-old movie director, a millionaire, and a man with multiple secrets including one that goes all the way back to 1957 when his best friend and purported lover, Lew Wallace, was shot in a murder that was never solved. Is this the kind of man Octavia should be marrying? Can Cordelia and Octavia put aside eight years worth of differences and reconcile? And what about the zany cast of characters rattling around at Innishannon? Roland's brother, a grand-niece, Lew Wallace's son, the housekeeper, and a documentary filmmaker on site all have their own secrets to hide, too. Soon enough, there are more killings, and it is unclear whether they are connected to the past murders or not.
I loved the references to the movies. Hart has taken the time to flesh out a mix of made up characters with the real-life stories about Hollywood legends such as Loretta Young, John Wayne, Clark Gable, George Cukor, and many more. Along with that, Cordelia's humor-and even Jane's occasional wry sense of humor-was entertaining. It didn't make for laugh-out-loud yucks, but Cordelia's exaggeration and her sparring with her sister had this reviewer grinning fairly regularly.
For readers who have followed the Lawless mysteries since their 1989 inception, Hart continues to build upon the relationships and storylines from the previous nine books, but anyone could pick this novel up, read it out of order, and still be perfectly at home in the world that Hart creates. Highly recommended for all lovers of mystery, and especially for those who enjoy sub-plots of growth and change for the main character along the lines of fiction by Nevada Barr, Carolyn Wheat, Sue Grafton, and Marcia Muller. ~Lori L. Lake, reviewer for Midwest Book Review and author of Gun Shy, Under The Gun, Different Dress, Ricochet In Time, and Stepping Out: Short Stories.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not up to par
Comment: Unfortunately author Hart isn't up to par in her latest Lawless
adventure, "Merchant of Venus". While the basic plot is promising, the book shows has excessive padding, and lacks the focus of previous efforts. Jane Lawless comes across vapid at times and her friend Cordelia is so busy feuding with her sister
that her character lacks it's usual bigger that life comedy-drama. In the middle of her detecting, Jane mulls over the loss of her ex, Julia (a mistaken loss, in my opinion) whom Hart had her get rid of in the previous Lawless book, then gets back to following some rather unrealistic clues. Hart is usually a great writer, but ran out of ink on this one.
Rating: 5
Summary: Ellen Hart Rocks
Comment: There is not a book in the Jane Lawless series that I do not like and they keep getting better.
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Title: Immaculate Midnight: A Jane Lawless Mystery by Ellen Hart ISBN: 0312313659 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: 09 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Wicked Games : A Jane Lawless Mystery (A Jane Lawless Mystery) by Ellen Hart ISBN: 0312967071 Publisher: St. Martin's Dead Letter Pub. Date: 15 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Hallowed Murder (Jane Lawless Mysteries (Paperback)) by Ellen Hart ISBN: 0345381408 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1993 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Robber's Wine: A Jane Lawless Mystery (Jane Lawless Mysteries (Hardcover)) by Ellen Hart ISBN: 187806780X Publisher: Seal Press (WA) Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Hunting The Witch (A Jane Lawless Mystery) by Ellen Hart ISBN: 0312973195 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: 15 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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