All the Great Pretenders [Mass Market Paperback]

Deborah Adams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 13, 1991

Twin Elms Inn Was Becoming a Three-Ring Circus...

...featuring the disappearing act of an eccentric rich girl and the psychic hired to find her. Innkeeper Kate Yancy has all she can do just to live there, let alone manage the place -- coping with a beauty-queen chambermaid, a religious-fanatic cook, a handful of eccentric guests, and a yardful of reporters.

It's a heady shot of excitement for little Jesus Creek, Tennessee, already in the throes of a Sesquicentennial celebration.

Murder is the only thing missing -- but not for long.

Set in the sultry heat of a Southern summer, Deborah Adams's first mystery is alight with small-town mischief, modest mayhem, and a homespun cast of unforgettable characters who turn a rural shindig into a real-life soap opera.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A delightful mystery from a promising new writer."--Sharyn McCrumb. Original.

From the Inside Flap

Twin Elms Inn Was Becoming a Three-Ring Circus...

...featuring the disappearing act of an eccentric rich girl and the psychic hired to find her. Innkeeper Kate Yancy has all she can do just to live there, let alone manage the place -- coping with a beauty-queen chambermaid, a religious-fanatic cook, a handful of eccentric guests, and a yardful of reporters.

It's a heady shot of excitement for little Jesus Creek, Tennessee, already in the throes of a Sesquicentennial celebration.

Murder is the only thing missing -- but not for long.

Set in the sultry heat of a Southern summer, Deborah Adams's first mystery is alight with small-town mischief, modest mayhem, and a homespun cast of unforgettable characters who turn a rural shindig into a real-life soap opera.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 215 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (December 13, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345370759
• ISBN-13: 978-0345370754
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #914,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murder, psychics, and Brother B. in Jesus Creek, January 14, 1998

By 

P. Mann (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All the Great Pretenders (Mass Market Paperback)

Kate Yancy works at her brother's inn taking care of all the duties that her brother, the sometimes mayor and sometimes hotelier, can't be bothered to do. And "bothered" is just he word to describe how Kate feels about the events in her life. Not least of these events is the swarm of reporters that has descended upon the town of Jesus Creek to cover the disappearance of a mentally unstable rich girl. The girl checked into Kate's hotel one night and soon disappeared from her locked room. When the girl's parents hire a psychic to help them, the local religious figure, Brother B., runs around talking about the dangers of dealing with demons. After a séance, the psychic announces that he knows where the body will be found. To give away any more of the plot would be to give away too much of the story, but I can say safely that before all is said and done, very few people will turn out to be what they seemed, and murder will be done. Author Deborah Adams handles herself quite adeptly in her first outing, though it should be said that the ending is a too abrupt. Her characters are well-drawn and engaging, and she does a wonderful job of sharing the town with us. For mystery readers who like their mysteries cozy, "All the Great Pretenders" is recommended reading.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Agatha nominee left me flat, June 27, 2001

By 

Carol Peterson Hennekens (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All the Great Pretenders (Mass Market Paperback)

After being pretty impressed with recent Agatha first book nominees, I've been venturing back into some of the older nominees. This book, a nominee in 1991, wasn't very impressive. The story is set in a B&B in a small town in Tennessee. Far too much of the book is about the B&B and small town life. Such mystery as there is only gets rolling in the second half of the book. It seemed to me that the author's real agenda was to write about life in her town and the mystery was an afterthought.

Bottom-line: Not sure what this book did to earn a nomination and not surprised the series hasn't gone on to further critical acclaim. There's better southern small town mystery out there (Margaret Maron, Carolyn Hart and others).