DEATH OF THE PARTY [Paperback]

Carolyn Hart (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon Books (2005)
• ASIN: B00151L2WI
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Carolyn Hart talks about mysteries and writing in a new interview on Oklahoma public tv. Please visit www.CarolynHart.com and click on the link in the upper right hand column.

In April Berkley Prime Crime will publish DEATH COMES SILENTLY, the 22nd Death on Demand title. Coming in October is WHAT THE CAT SAW, a novel of suspense.

Carolyn writes the Death on Demand series set in a mystery bookstore on a South Carolina sea island and the Bailey Ruth Raeburn series featuring a lively redheaded ghost.

Carolyn is also the author of several WWII novels, including ESCAPE FROM PARIS which is now available for the first time in its complete uncut version. Escape from Paris is the story of two sisters who defy the Gestapo to help British fliers avoid capture.

In Ghost at Work, Bailey Ruth returns to earth to help someone in trouble. She moves a body, investigates a murder, saves a marriage, prevents a suicide, and--in a fiery finale--rescues a child who knows too much. In Merry, Merry Ghost, Bailey Ruth protects a little boy from danger. In Ghost in Trouble, Bailey Ruth tries to corral a wilful woman determined to play hunt-the-killer. Coming in 2013 is HIJACKED GHOST which puts Bailey Ruth at risk of ever returning to Heaven.

Letter from Home, a WWII novel set on the home front, received the Agatha Award for Best Mystery of 2003. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers. Thirteen-year-old Gretchen Gilman is working for the small-town newspaper during the hot summer of 1944. Murder occurs on the street where she lives, forever changing her life and the lives of those involved.

Hart was one of 10 mystery authors featured at the National Book Festival on the Mall in Washington, DC, in 2003 for Letter from Home and again in 2007 for Set Sail for Murder, 7th in the Henrie O series. In Set Sail for Murder (new in paperback March 2008), Henrie O joins a troubled family on a Baltic cruise and death is an unwelcome passenger.

Hart has been nominated 9 times for the Agatha Award for Best Novel and has won 3 times. In 2007 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Malice Domestic. She will be the International Guest of Honor at Bloody Words in Toronto on June 6-8, 2008.

Hart is a native of Oklahoma City, a journalism graduate of the University of Oklahoma, and a former president of Sisters in Crime. She is also a member of Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, and American Crime Writers League.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Hart, April 12, 2005

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death of the Party (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 16) (Hardcover)

Carolyn Hart follows the pattern set by Agatha Christie in this latest in her Death on Demand series. The main characters are introduced in short vignettes at the beginning of the book. They are then put in a "closed room" setting where one of them must be the murderer. In this instance, they are all on a private island owned by Britt Barlow, who has invited all of the people who were on the island the night that her brother-in-law, Jeremiah Addison, was killed. She is determined to find the killer, and she invites Max and Annie Darling to help her do so. There are lots of red herrings, as usual, but this book was spoiled a bit for me because I guessed the murderer right from the beginning. Nevertheless, author Hart creates a group of interesting characters and she orchestrates their actions in a plot which should be pleasing to her many fans.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A quick weekend read that is entertaining yet predictable, April 16, 2005

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death of the Party (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 16) (Hardcover)

Far from Annie Darling's Death on Demand Bookstore, Carolyn Hart's latest mystery invades the quiet of a remote island. Darling's husband, Max, a private investigator, is hired to uncover background tidbits about hostess Brit Barlow's guests.

She's chosen them carefully, with one common thread. Each one was present the weekend when her sister's husband, Jeremiah Addison, had fallen down the staircase to his death. When Cissy Addison died, Britt inherited the island resort.

Golden Silk offers quiet, good food, generous hospitality and an ambiance of eerie calm. Accessible only by ferry from the mainland, guests receive benefit of creature comfort without the distractions of modern communication, save for radio in emergencies. One by one, they disembark on the island, unaware that each must help solve a year-old murder. Confidential Commissions, Max's business, must compile resume sheets for all.

Hart's descriptive phrases well personify all the guests. But she leaves the reader fuzzy when it comes to Annie's true colors. Annie comes off as curious, beyond the norm. But her nature may well inhibit the forward progress of her husband's investigation. She's anxious to solve the mystery and plunges full throttle ahead, especially when one of the guests, Everett Crenshaw, comes up dead. A journalist, Crenshaw had dredged enough mud on all the guests assembled to bury each in murderous motivation.

The disappearance of the resort's handyman, along with the motorboat --- the sole mode of transportation to the mainland --- provides suspense. Fear is evident when all assembled realize that, despite personal guilt or innocence, they've been denied a means of escape. Harry Lyle is not forthcoming about his sketchy background when Max meets up with him earlier at the water's edge. The hired man has an attic full of secrets to hide from the curious, making him an automatic target for the investigators.

Evidence builds when the Darlings work to piece the accusations together in a solution to the two crimes. Both sons of the murdered Addison had reason to commit the homicide, as well as their wives, a celebrity political figure and her husband, the maid, the handyman, and the hostess. Much conversation, a small bit of action, much conjecture, and numerous innuendoes are the tools of the author. DEATH OF THE PARTY is a quick weekend read that is entertaining, although predictable.

The plot pattern works well for Hart. She has produced a stable of Death on Demand mysteries, keeping her faithful followers well-supplied with Annie Darling's adventures. Annie finds herself in precarious circumstances once again but manages to teeter at the brink of extinction until the reader breathes easy when she escapes.

--- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great New Addition, April 9, 2005

By 

Coppertop (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death of the Party (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 16) (Hardcover)

This was a great read and the ending had me totally shocked! But I was a little disappointed because we didn't get to really see any other of our normal characters except Annie and Max. Otherwise, though, this is well worth the read!