The Cinco de Mayo Murder: A Christine Bennett Mystery [Mass Market Paperback]

Lee Harris (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Christine Bennett Mystery | Publication Date: August 29, 2006

MAYDAY!

When Christine Bennett is invited on a sightseeing trip to Arizona, she jumps at the chance for a little adventure. But the excursion reminds her of a former high school classmate, Heinz Gruner, who died twenty years earlier on Cinco de Mayo while hiking Picacho Peak near Tucson. Chris decides to contact Heinz’s mother, who has been wondering all these years how her beloved son, an experienced hiker, plunged to his death. Her one wish is to find out the truth–whether it was an accident, as the police report claimed, or murder.

So Chris begins sleuthing–tracking down anyone and everyone connected to her old classmate. Determined to unravel a mystery, if there is indeed one to unravel, Chris will stop at nothing to uncover the dire secrets that exist about that fateful day in May.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for the Christine Bennett mysteries

“AN EXCELLENT SERIES.”
–Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

About the Author

Lee Harris is the author of the mystery novels featuring ex-nun Christine Bennett, who first appeared in The Good Friday Murder, an Edgar Award nominee that was adapted in 2004 as a TV movie entitled Murder Without Conviction. Harris also writes the Manhattan Mystery series, which debuted with Murder in Hell’s Kitchen and continued with Murder in Alphabet City and Murder in Greenwich Village. In 2001, she received the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for her distinguished contribution to crime writing.

Lee Harris’s e-mail address is [e-mail]. She also has a website that she shares with three other mystery authors, and it can be found at www.NMOMysteries.com.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 241 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (August 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345475976
• ISBN-13: 978-0345475978
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 0.9 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #666,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great series entry, unfortunately the last one., November 5, 2007

By 

LisaMC "Lover of Books" (East Central IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cinco de Mayo Murder: A Christine Bennett Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

I have loved the Christine Bennett series since I found the first half dozen or so in a bookstore in Tucson, AZ, which is now sadly defunct. The prose in the series is of superior quality and the plots are completely believable. As well, the main character is a wonderful person such as I would like to know in real life. I rate the whole series as a solid 10 out of 10. This particular entry is great because part of it is set in Arizona, where I spend Christmas every year. Harris gets it exactly right, all along the line. Her gentle mysteries are a joy to read and savor.

Unfortunately, her publisher has decided to quit publishing original mass market paperbacks, and apparently has no intention of putting Harris in the hardback to paperback set. This is a crying shame, in my opinion. We need more books like these and we need more authors like Harris. Hopefully, someone will make her publisher see the light. Or maybe she can get a better publisher. Either way. I don't want to see this series end for any other reason than that the author herself decided to stop writing it. If anyone reads this, please consider contacting Fawcett and letting them know you want Harris' books to continue to be available. She is too good to lose to corporate greed.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Like Cotton Candy, February 3, 2007

By 

Beverly Johnson "devoted George fan" (CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cinco de Mayo Murder: A Christine Bennett Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

I have really liked this series and always feel connected to the characters and the plot, until this one! It's like cotton candy: looks good, smells good, but when you are finished with it - what did you have? A rather unstatisfied taste in your mouth. I was so disappointed in Cinqo de Mayo Murder. It made no sense at all. The plot was non-existant, the characterizations weak, there was no back story (always of interest to those of us that read series) and the conclusion was made of air, just like cotton candy. Come on, Ms Harris, you can do so much better. I'll try the next in the series and if it is as flawed as this one, then I am done with Chris et al.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Put It To Bed, January 17, 2007

By 

A Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cinco de Mayo Murder: A Christine Bennett Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

I had high hopes for this installment with Christine being on the road and involved in a murder mystery -- but when she'd already returned home from her trip by page 60, I knew I was in trouble. The rest of the story couldn't have been more boring, as it mainly consisted of Chris sitting at home calling a bunch of strangers over and over, with an occasional face to face meeting with someone locally. She doesn't even solve the murder -- the answer just falls into her lap.

Once again, it made no sense whatsoever that Chris would be involved in this. She takes a trip to Arizona, which prompts her to think about a classmate (who wasn't even a friend) who died out there 20 years ago, which prompts her to befriend the kid's mother out of nowhere and insinuate herself into her life and solving the old case. It gets even more ridiculous when her husband the cop encourages and assists his civilian wife in solving a case that has absolutely nothing to do with her.

People just give Chris information, having no idea who she is. When she has a falling out with the classmate's mother, the lady's doctor calls Chris, basically a total stranger not only to him but to the lady herself, to "mediate the dispute." He then, as her will's executor, takes Chris with him to view the lady's safety deposit box and gives her things to Chris. The whole thing was so far out there that it was almost laughable.

I like Lee Harris, so it's a shame to see her drag this series out way past its time, especially when she has a good thing going with the Jane Bauer series. This series should've been retired awhile ago, and it's painful to see it go on and just keep going further and further down the toilet.