Brewing Up a Storm: A John Thatcher Mystery [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Emma Lathen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1996

When the leader of No-Beer Buying Youngsters (NOBBY) is murdered during a protest, it is up to John Putnam Thatcher to discover whether it was a brewery owner, a politician, or one of her own supporters who was responsible for the killing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Nothing stirs up trouble like booze, politics, murder and money--all prime ingredients in Emma Lathen's latest. The story involves a Chicago brewery that begins selling its nonalcoholic beer in a chain of children's restaurants. A morally minded Congressional committee gets involved when a political activist group, No Beer-Buying Youngsters (Nobby), chimes in. Things get dicey when the mouthy leader of Nobby is gunned down, leaving the lords of Wall Street nervous about this venture.

From Publishers Weekly

Deliberate, unfailingly polite Wall Street banker John Putnam Thatcher (Right on the Money, 1993, etc.) is built more for endurance than speed, and his 24th appearance is another thoroughly absorbing business-based puzzler. Wealthy divorcee Madeleine Underwood is a latter-day Carrie Nation, except that her cause is watered down. She's going after a nonalcoholic brew called Quax, which she and other members of her grassroots organization, NOBBY (No Beer Buying Youngsters), are convinced will nudge America's youth down the slippery slope toward alcoholism. With characteristic lack of judgment, Underwood commits NOBBY to an ill-advised lawsuit filed by the family of a dead teen. She makes unsubstantiated claims before a congressional committee and leads the charge against Rugby's, a popular family restaurant that has decided to carry Quax. Since Rugby's owner is a client of his bank, Thatcher is more than mildly interested when he stumbles upon Underwood inciting NOBBY members to violence in front of one of the chain's new restaurants. Several days later, Underwood is found murdered beneath a table at the congressional hearings. Suspects, of course, are rampant, and it takes Thatcher's calm ponderings to find the killer. The team that writes as Lathen does a superior job of portraying business in a savvy way?cynical in all the right places and raising interesting issues about organizations that seek to limit adult freedoms under the guise of protecting children.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312145543
• ISBN-13: 978-0312145545
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,459,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable but not up to her best, June 23, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Brewing Up a Storm: A John Thatcher Mystery (Hardcover)

I have read all Emma Lathen's books and have just finished this one. It is fun, but I missed some of her usual characters - Tom Robichaux, Everett Gabler and Walter Bowman in particular. However, the plot was tight and altogether a good read

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Cheers for the murderer!, October 31, 2004

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brewing Up a Storm (Audio Cassette)

This yarn tells the story of an anti-beer activist, Mrs. Maddie Underwood. Mrs. Underwood (never referred to as "Maddie" except by her sworn enemies) is the leader of NOBBY, a group that seeks to prevent underage drinking. At the beginning of the story, NOBBY is engaged in a lawsuit in which the parents of a teenager who died after imbibing are suing Kischel, the producers of a non-alcoholic beer their son was fond of. They accuse the company of wrongful death because they, with NOBBY's backing, argue that Kischel's near-beer led to developing an addiction to stronger stuff. At the same time, congressional hearings about the implications of non-alcoholic beer sales to minors are being held, and Underwood wants to use these hearings to further her cause and that of her organization. The problem is, Underwood is a batty, self-centered, and thoroughly unsympathetic character. By the time the author finally gets around to murdering her, you will have long been ready to do the same yourself- -if you haven't given up on the book entirely by then.

After Underwood is put under, the story finally begins to pick steam. There are a few clues to help us determine who did it. By the way, this is a John Putnam Thatcher mystery. If you haven't read other books in the series, then you may wonder who in the world this Thatcher is, and why Lathen goes to such pains to give him bit parts early on in the book. Through his trivially tangential links to the case, Thatcher develops enough interest in the murder by the end of the book to solve the crime through deductive reasoning so that he can point the police in the right direction to make an arrest. This is a complicated book with numerous plot-threads that will try the patience of all but the most devoted Thatcher fans.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It was OK but not one of her best, March 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Brewing Up a Storm: A John Thatcher Mystery (John Putnam Thatcher Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I thought there were too many characters and the story rambled on over the same ground. In addition, this story had too little emphasis on high finance which is always my favourite area. I felt after I read it that this story could have been about widgets and it would have made no real difference.