Customer Reviews

Dying for a Clue (Jennifer Marsh Mysteries)

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In Judy Fitzwater's third Jennifer Marsh installment we get more of the same wackiness that readers have come to expect from her first two books.

This time Jennifer is working with P.I. Johnny Z. (a Bogart wanna-be) who gets Jennifer caught in the middle of yet another murder that to make matters worse forces her to move-in with her (sort-of) boyfriend Sam and baby-sit her client.

While the plot is somewhat predictable the characters make it all worthwhile. I think I read these simply to find out if Jennifer will ever actually admit to loving Sam and whether she will ever have Jaimie (her unborn and not yet conceived child).

Judy has great character development from the first thru the third book and as always, I love listening in on her writers group discuss their plots (the newest being A children's mystery featuring a Squirrel, entitled "Where have all the nuts gone?" or something as witty as that).

These books are a great vacation from the hard boiled and psychologically intense mysteries - and are just a whole lot of fu

Jennifer Marsh, a pre-published mystery writer, returns in DYING FOR A CLUE. Deciding a little PI experience will help provide authenticity to her writing, Jennifer accompanies sleazy PI Johnny "Z" on a case at a local fertility clinic. When things turn violent and a nurse is killed and Z is shot, Jennifer hides in a garbage dumpster (a really hilarious scene) and escapes harm. The hoodlums manage to ID her and break into her apartment, and Jennifer puts her "how-to-escape-when-someone-breaks-into- my-apartment" scenario (another great scene) into effect. While her apartment is being repaired, Jennifer moves in with her reporter boyfriend, Sam, for protection.

In an attempt to figure out why the nurse was killed and Z was shot, Jennifer investigates the clinic staff and Z's client, a college coed who wants to locate her birth parents. Unfortunately, Jennifer isn't very bright, because she isn't able to figure out the clues when they are handed to her on a silver platter. The coed's real identity was obvious to me at once from the clues given, and I kept waiting for Jennifer to catch up to me.

Jennifer's supporting characters, including her writer's group, are in fine form, and were the best part of the book. An interesting read, but the author needs to work on her plot developments and the clues she provides the reader.

My favorite of the Jennifer Marsh series (up to Dying to Get Her Man, and hoping for more...)

The plot will remind you of Mary Higgins Clark's books here, but the style is purely Fitzwater. Johnny Z is a fun character, and between him and the writers' group, you'll keep grinning. And of course you will keep routing for Jennifer... to get the bad guy AND to get published! A definite must to bring along next time you have to sit in the doctor's waiting room.

In Macon, crime writer Jennifer Marsh signs on as an assistant to sleazy private investigator Johnny "Z "Zeemon to gain first hand knowledge of sleuthing. The two detectives hide in an alley near the East Lake Fertility Clinic waiting for two delivery people to leave. Instead, all hell breaks loose. Z is shot and a frightened Jennifer dives into nearby garbage dumpster filled with trash from a Chinese restaurant. When Jennifer exits her safe spot, she finds a nurse has been murdered.

While Z heals in a hospital, his client Lanier College student Diane Robbins visits Jennifer, seeking the parcel that was to be collected that fatal night. Apparently, Diane recognized the clinic and learned from her mother that she is adopted. The dead nurse was secretly going to provide information that would inform Diane who her biological mother truly is. As Jennifer works with Z to uncover the truth, danger mounts from an unknown source that has already hired professionals to keep certain secrets buried.

The third Marsh mystery is a humorous entertaining who-done-it that stars a wisecracking (at least in her head) heroine. DYING FOR A CLUE contains an enjoyable story line that hooks readers from start to finish. Like the first two "Dying novels (DYING TO GET PUBLISHED and DYING TO GET EVEN), the characters make the tale. Besides the wonderful Jennifer, her writing support group, the client, Sam, and Z turn this into a novel readers will be dying to read.

Harriet Klausner

Jennifer Marsh, part-time caterer and full-time trying to get published mystery writer has decided she needs some on-hands experience. What better way than to work for a real Private Detective.

Unfortunately, Johnny Zeeman, the last guy in the phone book is the only one who will let her tag along. It's even more unfortunate when on a secret meeting at the East Lake Fertility Clinic, two guys show up shooting.

When it's all over and Jennifer can climb out of the dumpster she's been hiding in, Johnny Z (who acts like an escapee from a 1940's Film Noir) has been shot and the woman they were meeting, Beverly Hoffman is dead.

Why would anyone murder Beverly, who worked at the clinic? And what was she going to give to Johnny Z for his client, seventeen year old, Diane Robbins, who was adopted at 3 and wants to find her birth parents?

Jennifer is confused as to what a fertility clinic would have to do with an adoption. Could it be blackmarketing of babies? Or is it something worse? And when the thugs break into Jennifer's apartment, she begins to wonder if she's next on the list to be murdered.

Having to move into her sometimes boyfriend, reporter Sam Cullpepper little apartment, with Diane, Diane's college roommate Valerie and Muffy, Jennifer's retired greyhound, make it more urgent to solve the crime and get back to her own place.

Highlights:

Johnny Z is very funny. He keeps dragging Jennifer back into investigating the crime even though she keeps quitting.

Jennifer's Writer's group. These ladies are the highlight of every story. April, who's about to give birth at any time. Teri and Monique, who help Jennifer this time by taking a trip to the fertility clinic to see see if they're offered a baby. And Leigh Ann who gets to read from her new story, a Regency Romance Vampire Tale. There is a reason none of these women are published authors. That includes Jennifer, whose stories so far, at least to me, are terrible. Which, of course, makes them very funny to read.

Sam Culpepper, who remains calm, no matter what's going on around him.

Lowlights:

The only problem with the story and it's been a problem on all three so far, is the mystery is a little lame. The buildup, the searching for clues are always interesting, but the final solution is a letdown. The reasons behind the murder is a little lame and you don't really understand what would drive the killer to resort to murder because you don't ever really get to know the killer.

Still, this series is a nice read. The books are quick and are what I call a good filler series. Something entertaining to read, but with only a small amount of books 2-6 books, to fill the time while you're waiting for the next book from your favorite author. I'm waiting for 3 to come out next month.

Other good filler series.
Victoria Pade's - Jimi Plain Series - Divorce Can Be Murder & Dating Can Be Deadly.
Barbara Colley's - Charlotte LaRue Series - Maid For Murder & Death Tidies Up.
Elaine Viets - Dead End Job Series - Shop Till You Drop & Murder Between The Covers.
Sara Hoskinson Frommer's - Joan Spencer Series - 5 books.

This is a great mystery book! Not her best, but it's definetly worth reading. And great for all ages! Easy to follow, no brain-busting words where you have to go for find that old dusty dictionary, just simple, suspenseful reading for everyone!

If you enjoyed the first Jennifer Marsh mystery, you'll feel right at home reading the second one. Judy Fitzwater doesn't miss a beat as she throws us back into Jennifer's world, and into another murder mystery (this time one our hero -didn't- go looking for!).

All the characters we know and love from Dying to Get Published are back in the second book of the series, and as lovable as ever. Again Fitzwater's wit and amazing knack for putting her finger on the idiosyncracies of a situation (you know, those things that make you go hmmmm) make this a great read. If you're looking for something lighthearted and fun, don't miss Jennifer Marsh and the Macon crew as they tumble through their latest mystery!

Another of Judy Fitzwater's amusing mysteries about an unpublished mystery writer writing a mystery. An extra layer of metafiction is that she is involved with a Raymond Chandler type private eye. It's not quite up there with Grafton and Evanovich and Elmore Leonard but falls within that category of the humorous mystery. It's also somewhat of a cosy with a romantic interest but no hard sex and with only minimal violence. Jennifer Marsh herself is the best character - a vegetarian virgin living with a rescued grayhound.