Customer Reviews

A Dangerous Woman

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fay Cunningham is a middle aged, fourty pound overweight, menopausal, divorcee who is trying to quit a twenty-year, pack a day smoking habit. She has a daughter in college, and is the publisher of the town's very successful newspaper. She recently handed over her newspaper duties, for the time being, to see if she still wants to continue doing it. In the meantime she is delivering the papers herself to get closer to her customers, help her with her depression, and to lose the weight she has gained from not smoking. Faye Cunningham is what a lot of us are, a lady trying to find herself. But she is also much more than that. She is also a very loyal, and trustworthy friend. And so on a rainy, dreary day, when she went to the door of Joe Wise, one of her closest friends, to deliver his newspaper, and a strange woman, very rudely answered the door, saying that Joe isn't there, Fay becomes very curious.

Leaving Joe's house she goes to the "gossip corner", a nearby restaurant in town, and finds the former police chief, Mitch Malone, there having lunch. Not someone she is particularly happy to see at the moment. I have got to say that I was hooked on A DANGEROUS WOMAN when I read the very first paragraph. And Ms. Lee did not let me go. She has created a character, in Fay Cunningham, that most of us can relate to. A funny, not so perfect, but warm woman, who is trying to find herself after a devastating divorce. A woman who is so loyal to her friends that she puts own problems on the back burner, to make sure that they are alright, and not in harm's way. Bumbling along, but not giving up when things don't quite go the way that she wants them to.

A DANGEROUS WOMAN is a wonderful cozy, mystery that you will just want to curl up with, and forget the rest of the world, as Ms Lee pulls you into Fay's world. And you will not be sorry, because you will laugh, you will cry, you will bite your nails. Ms. Lee writes in such a fashion that it is easy to get to know Fay, and all of the other characters that she brings into the story. The plot keeps your interest, and makes you want to keep going. The characters are alive, and breathing. And you can't help but relate to the wonderful heroin, Faye.

If I could order up a friend, with all the qualities I desired, I would want a friend just like Fay Cunningham. And, I know, after reading A DANGEROUS WOMAN you will too.

I just can't say enough about this wonderful book. I just hope that this isn't the last Faye Cunningham mystery. A DANGEROUS WOMAN is much too good to not have a sequel. And believe me when, and if, it appears, I will be the first one in line to get it. And anymore thereafter.

I kept being pulled out of a fairly enjoyable book by the desperate need of a copy editor. These were not just errors caused, perhaps, by transition to digital. These were poor English! Continual misuse of pronoun case, convoluted sentences, and sentences which seemed to go nowhere. A professional editor is certainly worth the price!

A Dangerous Woman is a fun read that pulls you through its pages. Fay Cunningham is a woman you'd love to have as your friend--loyal and caring. When she thinks her friend Joe Wise is in trouble, she doesn't give up, and she pulls you along for the ride. Highly recommended.

I read this book in its free Kindle edition. I would have been upset if I had paid for it. It's not that the book doesn't have an intriguing set up, it's that the book needs two things. First, a good copy editor. The book is full of typos, grammatical errors, and poorly constructed sentences. Secondly, it needs a good editor to help the author refocus the structure and the characterizations. The author pretty much gives away the guilty party early and repeatedly dilutes the tension of the plot with uninteresting digressions. The book is peopled with flat, stock and two-dimensional characters. The concept behind Fay Cunningham should be a strong one, but it falls victim to cliche and a lack of logic. If this woman really was a dynamo publisher, she would never tolerate the kind of grammatical errors and constructions she makes. And yet.....
And yet, Fay has such potential for being a sympathetic and fun character. She and the book should just be much better than they are here.

This was a free book for Kindle. And I am glad that I did not buy it because there was not much mystery for a mystery novel. The story revolved around a middle aged divorcee who owns the town newspaper. She is also a real nosy snoop. That is how she gets involved in the "mystery". I figured out who done it before the first quarter of the book was over. I also found the constant descriptions of the heroines various ankle sprains to be boring. If you want any romance there was NONE in this book.

I'm guessing by the newer reviews, this is either a " I loved it! " or hated it book. I also received it as a free download but I'm all for it. It had plot, well developed characters, suspense and more. I'm hoping to find more Fay books since the first review was back in 2002.
Yes, it did have some mistakes with wording, but who among us is perfect? It was not enough to distract from the story. Lighten up people. As a reader it's too easy to point fingers at a writer for editing problems. I've read too many books with glaring errors, this book is not one of them!
The first review is excellent. I just wanted to add a few pointers.
Thank you, Debra Lee, for a wonderful book!

Fay is a wonderful character and someone I'd like as a friend. Almost anyone would be lucky to have her in their corner. Fay gave me a few hours of entertainment. Sometimes I giggled, related to her mishaps, and always was cheering her on. Now I'm off to purchase her second book, Deadly Arrows, because I want to spend more time with this woman.

I thorouhly enjoyed this well-written crime story. The plot was however a bit too predictable and the murderer was identifyable quite early. The over-used "this old gal" and "local gossip corner" was somewhat irritating and detracted from an otherwise commendable work.

This was a good book, but not a great one. I predicted the entire plot from about the second chapter. The main character, Fay, I couldn't somehow ever like. She seemed too harsh for my taste. Fay's relationship with Mitch was confusing. I kept asking if they were in a relationship or not. Description of the setting was good, though for some reason, I found the cat annoying. Use of first person worked for me, but it was not the best book I've read in first person and that knowledge stopped me some from liking it. There were numerous trivial editing mistakes, misplaced words and such, that should have been caught before publication. It's a strictly "ok" book useful to while away spare time, if you haven't something better to read.

Characters were likeable (except for murderer of course) but mystery was so weak it was ridiculous. Plus the police were portrayed as fools with no idea of police work. I saw a review dated 2002 ? thinking story was excellent, so perhaps we are now too knowledgeable for this author. Won't bother with another of her books even though it was a free download. Stupidities were just too annoying.