Customer Reviews

Death Comes for the Critic (Ghostwriter Mystery)

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

 

 

author of DREAMING YOUR REAL SELF: A PERSONAL APPROACH TO DREAM INTERPRETATION

What a convoluted, clever, and witty book! Noreen Wald's flair for humor and unforgettable characters is a pleasure. Readers will clamor for a return of Glory Flagg and Modesty M. Wald's spoofs of stange news events left me rolling on the floor. Wait until you get to Halloween in Greenwich Village!

Suspenseful and laugh-out-loud funny. Can't wait for the next one. Great little series.

A delightfully witty and elegant mystery! Ms. Wald is one ofbest mystery writers around today. This book will keep you on the edgeof your seat trying to figure out whodunnit and keep you laughing along with the unforgettable Jake O'Hara. I can't wait for the next one!

Noreen Wald's second entry in the Ghostwriter series is even better than the first. The wacky band of characters that the readers met in the first installment are back and better than ever. Feisty Jake O'hara, Too Tall Tom and Modesty (Jake's fellow Ghosts)and Gypsy Rose, her mother's best friend and occultist are back as well as the sexy Dennis Kim and sultry Ben Rubin.

Just as Jake O'Hara is asked to ghost a mystery book for the book reviewer, Dick Peter, that everyone loves to hate she discovers him dead. Thrust once again into a mystery that begs to be solved, if not by her sometime paramour and NYC homicide dectective Ben, then by her group of Ghosts who join forces to save Jake from either being murdered herself or for being arrested for the crime.

Was it the gossip colmnists Alison Carr, who had more dirt on Dick than the local cemetery? What about his outrageous ex-wife, Glory Flagg, a former stripper with a heart of gold? His soon to be ex-wife romance novelist Mila Macovitch? Could it be Jake herself or her friend Jennifer Moran? The list of suspesects is as long as it is entertaining. Who will be the next victim?

This plot never stops and the reader almost wishes it would never end but end it does and it certainly leaves the reader waiting for the next installment in this fun and fabulous series!

Lots of twists and turns along the way. Keeps you in suspense until the end. Keep up the good work Ms. Wald.

I have to give a full disclosure. I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie so it is very difficult for me to read any mystery book without comparing it to the Queen.

That being said, this book is not bad. Noreen Wald gives her characters a flair with a sense of humor which was enjoyable.(Glory Flagg is the perfect example). In terms of plot however, it was a little week. I struggled throMurder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)ugh because frankly, there was just too much emphasis on the characters and their little quirks.

Several examples include, how did the main character earn her nickname, Jake? Jake's love life was that much if a concern or was that intentional to make Dennis Kim more of a suspect. Another is the long drawn set up to the Halloween ending at the New Age bookstore.

If you're looking for light read mystery, then this is ideal. But as an Agatha Christie fan, I can only give three stars which leads to full disclosure number two: I did not purchase this book but borrowed it and hence part of the reason for the rating.

They really should change the name of this series from "A Ghostwriter Mystery" to "Moronic New Ager Mystery". On several occasions I had to force myself to continue this sad little story to it's final "Poirot like denoument". Lead character & ghostwriter/amateur detective Jake O'Hara thinks a little too much of herself with her delusions of comparisons with Agatha Christie's famous sleuth. All the seance nonsense is given way too much credibility from otherwise cartoonish characters.

P.S. Needed a new editor to ferret out grammatical gaffs like: Chapter 34/page 208 "I poured Modesty and me" errr... myself...

Well at least I can get half price credit on it's $5.99 cover at my local 2:1 paperback trade-in store.

In this ghostwriter mystery, Jake O'Hara is hired by a literary critic with a vicious reputation, to write the murder mystery he outlined, but can't write. Not surprisingly, someone kills him, appropriately stabbing him in the back. Jake has a difficult job, she has to write his column, finish his book, and find his killer. It seems that everyone who ever met this guy, has a motive to kill him. The usual cast of ghosts and neighborhood characters, plus Rubin father and son, help Jake solve this crime. With so many suspects and victims, it's hard to pick out the murderer, and I confess that I couldn't guess. The best yet of this series.

I enjoyed Ghostwriter, but this book was long on humor and short on just about everything else. The characters were cartoonish and the plot was pretty shallow and not much of interest went on in the story. I struggled to finish it. Half the time, I couldn't remember who was who in the long list of suspects.

I really enjoyed the second installment in the Ghostwriter series. Jake O'Hara is a fun heroine, and the numerous twists and turns in the plot will keep you guessing until the very end. I particularly like the way Jake and her mother relate to each other. Also, I enjoyed reading a mystery that has some humor and isn't all just about death.