Customer Reviews

Chandler's Daughter: A Lexy Connor Mystery

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Truly Donovan's debut mystery CHANDLER'S DAUGHTER is the beginning of a wonderful cozy mystery series.

As I read, I found myself taken with Ms. Donovan's single, plus-size, middle-aged, amateur sleuth Lexy Connor. She is witty, intelligent and delightful!

Lexy lives in Gunbarrel, Colorado, where she runs her own software consulting company. She loves to eat out with friends and owns a lovable, well-mannered Westie named Molly. Those of us who can't live without our mysteries, Internet or email, will find a comrade in Lexy as she is blessed with the same passions.

In her debut mystery, Lexy finds her quiet Colorado world shaken when her friend Tally calls for help. Tally offers to pay Lexy her usual software consultation fee, if she will solve the mystery of a dead stranger Tally was supposed to meet. This mystery has Lexy traveling the country (a trip you don't want to miss) in an attempt to find the murderer who is also hunting for her friend.

Meet Lexy Connor, a plump, middle aged, single woman whose life revolves around her business, her dog Molly and her friends. Lexy's a likable sort - a little eccentric and unquestioningly loyal to those she cares about. A late night call from the daughter of an old friend provokes her protective instincts and has Lexy serving up advice alongside scrambled eggs. Tally is in trouble and needs her help.

Never one to disappoint a friend, Lexy is ready to go to work when she learns that someone is stalking Tally with the apparent intent to kill. All clues lead back to Tally's birth, so the two develop a plan to discover her birth parents' identities in hopes of solving the mystery. With just a high school friendship ring found in the secret compartment of a jewelry box that belonged to Tally's late adopted mother, Lexy hops on a plane with Molly in tow and starts turning over a few rocks. Unfortunately, potential informants start turning up dead. All too soon, someone's after Lexy too.

Chandler's Daughter is one of the most delightful books I've read in a while. The cover and blurb led me to expect a grandmotherly-type cozy. What I found instead was non-stop action with a little reality thrown in and a highly satisfying conclusion. The violence and sex were minimal, taking place mostly off-scene. Not all situations were entirely believable, but they were entertaining and worked well within the frame of the plot. I won't hesitate to pick up the next book by Truly Donovan.

The Charlotte Austin Review

I read a library copy of "Donovan's Daughter" and so thoroughly enjoyed it, that I now have a copy on order. I want to own this series from the very beginning.

Lexy Connor is a great heroine. She is well past the first blush of youth, but is smart, vital and ready to do anything for a friend.

She searches for the true parentage of Tally, a young woman who is being threatened even though she knows nothing of her true background. Her parents have been dead for years. She comes to Lexy because Lexy knew her adoptive parents.

With few clues to go on, Lexy (along with her delightful dog) goes across country to solve a mystery that puts her and some of her friends in grave danger.

Don't miss this exciting and humorous first mystery with an unforgettable heroine.

Middle-aged computer consultant Lexy Connor believes she is too pudgy to be cute. She loves her home in Gunbarrel, Colorado, a suburb of Boulder. Lexy especially loves the nighttime as she prefers to stay up all evening and sleep away the morning.

When her friend Tally Richard asks Lexy to hide her and her car, she readily agrees to the strange request. Tally has always known she was adopted. However, she never has known the identity of her biological parents since everyone involved felt that was dangerous information for her to obtain. A Los Angeles woman contacted Tally, but was murdered before they could meet. Feeling as if her life is in danger from unknown forces, Tally asks Lexy to uncover the identity of her biological parents in hopes they can neutralize the threat. Lexy starts in California with the dead woman, but soon crosses the continent as someone desperately wants to add Tally and now Lexy to the murder count.

Lexy Connor is a strong woman with a deep sense of loyalty to her friends. In her mind, a friend in need is not a pest, but someone she is impelled to help. She risks her life in order for her friend to remain safe. Truly Donovon adds a romantic interest that thinks Lexy is sexy and hints at further developments in this senior citizen relationship. CHANDLERS' DAUGHTER is truly an exciting amateur sleuth tale that seems to forecast a long run for Lexy. Readers will enjoy this story and want more Lexy tales.

Harriet KLausner

Good little mystery. Nothing earth shattering but a good first book. Few minor details wrong such as "Rotties thumped their tails". I know you're a Westie lover, Truly, but you should know Rotties don't have tails.

Reading this book was like sitting down with a wonderful aunt and listening to her tell you a story. If you're looking for grotesque violence or lots of sex, this one's not for you; but if you want to relish excellent writing that just keeps skipping along, get the book.

The feeling you get about the author (as she speaks through her main character) is unfailingly pleasant, revealing someone you'd enjoy knowing, someone comfortable with herself and the world.

When Lexy Connor gets a call for help from Tally Richard, she's very willing to help. Adopted as a child, Tally had been delving into her birth-parents and received a mysterious telephone calling regarding them. But before Tally could find out much, the informant was murdered. Now Tally is fleeing the killer who is seeking to protect a family secret by ending her inquiry -- and her life! Chandler's Daughter is a Lexy Connor mystery and continues to document Truly Donovan as a skilled and consistently entertaining storyteller who plays fair with the reader in an action thriller that grips the attention from first page to last.

I worked with Truly (no, that's not a pen name) many years ago at IBM. Although I was pleased to hear that she'd published a novel, I was a little apprehensive about reading it, lest I find myself someday in the uncomfortable position of having to lie to her about my reactions. Fortunately I needn't have worried. The book is great fun: well written, humorous, and with engaging characters and interesting settings. The sex is mostly offstage, and the violence is kept to a necessary minimum, so this definitely isn't a tale for blood-and-guts fans. The plot isn't a nail-biter, but it's intriguing enough to keep the reader involved -- I kept telling myself "Just one more chapter and THEN I'll go have some dinner," but I ended up reading the whole book in one sitting. And the main character, who bears a (not surprising) resemblance to the author, is a delight: she's smart, methodical, and gutsy, but she's also a loving friend, kindhearted, and with immense joie de vivre. But she's unsparing in her self-assessment, and clear-eyed about the way a fat middle-aged woman is viewed by society, so, when she finally meets a gentleman who appreciates her, it's doubly satisfying to the reader. I could quibble with a few details (wouldn't someone who was about to fly off to Latin America be carrying luggage?), and I would have liked more physical description of the characters -- I found it hard to visualize many of them. But, in general, I enjoyed the book a lot.

This book was a great light hearted mystery. If a book dosnt keep my intrest in the first couple of chapters then I dont read it, but Chandler's Daughter kept my intrest, and befor I knew it I was done with the book. I really recommead it!

The heroine of Chandler's Daughter, Lexy Connor, like her creator, lives in Boulder, Coloroado. She is a "techie writer", middle aged but - smart, and known to be so by her friends.

One such friend asks her to help find the source of a letter that threatens danger, and invokes the mystery of her adopted parents link to her real parents.

Several murders, and trips to Southern California and the wilds of Westchester County, New York later, Lexy finds the secret. But not before she starts an affair with an attractive, widowed judge, and is beaten up by a sadistic ex-cop.

Truly Donovan is a worthy addition to the ranks of Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky in creating tough women crime fighters (though Truly's is not a private detective by profession). And she manages to create a stable of lovable characters along the way, including Lexy's dog, Millie (who is along for the whole ride), the judge, and a Los Angeles cop.

Buy it and enjoy - a delightlful story with a great twist at the end.