Customer Reviews

East Of Peculiar (Hannah Garvey Mysteries #1)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Like the first swim of summer, Suzann Ledbetter's EAST OF PECULIAR is a refreshing splash of laughter, romance and mystery! Hannah has had it. Kissing her high-pressure advertising executive job in Chicago goodbye, she says hello to Valhalla Springs, a retirement community in the Missouri Ozarks. Thinking she's found a place to rest and recoup, Hannah instead finds herself in the deep-end of a murder with an unlikely victim, and way over her head with the handsome local sheriff! I found myself laughing out-loud while reading of Hannah's predicaments and her wry view on life. As a newly turned forty-year old woman myself, I related to this 43-year-old heroine's 'younger-man' dilemma. I also loved the various residents at Valhalla Springs - an eclectic collection of some of the most loveable retirees you'd ever hope to meet! The mystery and danger in this story is perfectly blended with laughter and romance - giving the reader non-stop entertainment. I found the author's sense of humour and fast-paced plot impossible to put-down, and it was with regret that I said good-bye to the residents of this fictional corner of the Ozarks. Grab up EAST OF PECULIAR and take a vacation from the everyday in Valhalla Springs! I did, and I loved every minute!

Suzann Ledbetter has done it again, this time with a rip-roaring mystery -- her first -- and I'm looking eagerly forward to the others in the series! Who killed the retired schoolteacher with her own rolling pin? Hannah, the new caretaker of Valhalla Springs, an upscale retirement community, is confronted with the body before she has her bags unpacked. What's a girl to do? Solve it, of course, although this is somewhat difficult when the community's computer system has been "requisitioned" by the mother of its owner, people keep making extra keys to the locks on your front door, well-meaning residents insist on "fixing" your plumbing and electrical appliances -- badly -- and the rinse you just put on your hair has turned it flaming red.

Hannah meets her intellectual match in David, the solid-as-rock, handsome (and totally yummy) sheriff. Helped and hindered by a wonderfully detailed cast of quirky old-agers and townspeople, this delightful hero and heroine try to solve the crime and end up falling for each other. EAST OF PECULIAR is full of the flavor of the Missouri Ozarks, observed by a master storyteller with a keen eye and ear, right down to the nuances of spoken language and the inner workings of a small Missouri town.

I simply loved this book! It's a terrific mystery that's cheeky and surprising, warm and witty, and I read it in two sittings. I can't wait to see what Hannah and David will get up to next!

After more than two decades of working at a high pressure job at a Chicago advertising agency, Hannah Garvey decides to quit the rat race. She accepts a position as the resident manager for the upscale Missouri retirement community of Valhalla Springs because the place is just beyond Reclusive and in the center of Serenity County. She knows that this job will finally allow her to relax.

Her first week on her new job requires Hannah to reassess her thoughts of peace and quiet when someone murders an elderly resident. To her surprise, Hannah finds herself attracted to the head of the homicide investigation, County Sheriff Dave Hendrickson who is seven years her junior. Her being much older disturbs Hannah, but Dave wants to spend quality time alone with her. However, a second murder keeps him busy, especially when the senior citizens turn vigilante.

Readers who like their humor served up in an Irma Bombeck style will appreciate the eccentric EAST OF PECULIAR even when the comedy turns occasionally flat. The personalities of the elderly and their actions are a major reason the story line is so enjoyable. Although the romance adds to the fun, this contemporary will appeal to mainstream readers.

Harriet Klausner

EAST OF PECULIAR is Suzann Ledbetter's first mystery (she is author of a dozen other books including a biography, 10 novels and 2 humor books) and its a funny and involving story set in the Missouri Ozarks, a place the author knows intimately. Readers are going to love Hannah Garvey, the former ad exec in Chicago who throws over that life to manage a retirement home deep in the Ozarkian hills. There is a murder there and Hannah and the local sheriff become involved in the solution to the crime and inevitably become involved with each other. Ledbetter is a terrific character-creator and has a lot of fun, as readers will, with her cast of retirement home characters, all turning amateur sleuths to "help" solve the crime at Valhalla Springs.

I read "South Of Sanity", the sequel to this book first. Even though it's easy enough to follow the story line if read out of sequence, I think reading this one first gives the reader a little bit better insight into the secondary characters...and glorious characters they are! Janet Evanovich is the only other author that comes to mind with the ability to interweave a good mystery along with a heroine with interesting but flawed looks, and a mouth like Phyllis Diller (she even THINKS funny!). Throw in a hunky hero that's in law inforcement who looks just like________ (fill in the blank with your personal favorite action hero). Top off with another hero that is a bit off-beat. Okay, here's a clue. He's old enough to be an escort for blue haired ladies, but you just want to jump into the pages of this book and slather him with kisses and hug him to death! Top off with a group of elderly, pot-smoking matrons wanting to help our heroine & hero solve the mystery and you have all the ingredients for a ton of laughs, some breath-holding moments and a hot romance that keeps getting hotter. Can't ask much more from a book than that! One complaint.....have to wait until December, 2001 for the 3rd in this series. Ah well, I know the wait will be worth it!

I managed to buy the second book in this installment first. Let me tell you, as soon as I finished South of Sanity I was on Amazon ordering East of Peculiar. I thoroughly enjoyed both books. Suzann Ledbetter has a great series going and I am eagerly waiting for the third one due later this year.

East of Peculiar is one of the funniest stories I've read in a long time. Hannah Gravey suffers a midlife crisis. She ups and quits her high power job with advertising and takes over as manager of an exclusive retirement village thinking how hard can it be to watch over a bunch of retired people. Well, apparently it can be pretty hard when a brutal murder happens and the over the hill gang decides to help the police. Hannah has her hands full and a series of events happen to make her job that much harder. Then she meets the man of her dreams who just happens to be seven years younger and the sheriff to boot.

As I stated I read the second book first, then the first book. Either way it still works. East of Peculiar introduces all the characters and gives background information about a wonderful group of characters. If you want something light hearted and entertaining, pick up this book and then the second one. I really think you will be as hooked as I've become.

I found the characters interesting and entertaining. The story moves along rapidly and suspense builds quickly. Hannah Garvey, has second thoughts about decision to change careers, but finds more than she bargained for at Valhalla Springs. Loveable tenents and a sheriff to raise the temperture. A must read, for readers who enjoy fun with their *whodunits*

Hannah Garvey has had it up to here with her corporate job, failed love
life
and the hurdy gurdy pace of Chicago's concrete canyons. So when she loads
up
the truck for the resplendent quietude of the Missouri Ozarks after
accepting
a job as manager of a retirement development called Valhalla Springs,
everything should prove honky-dory, right?
Well, if it weren't for the fact that soon after her arrival one of the
senior residents gets bludgeoned into the Great Beyond, compliments of a
rolling pin, it just might have been.
Hannah soon finds herself embroiled in a deadly mystery filled with sharp
turns and unexpected twists. Accompanied by a band of oddball amateur
sleuths
wielding blue hair and senior citizen discounts, she sets out to solve the
heinous crime before the murderer closes in on her. Add to that a handsome
headstrong Sheriff with an eye on romance and EAST OF PECULIAR two-steps
towards a hair-raising finally that never lets a reader lose interest.
Suzann Ledbetter, perhaps best known for her westerns (in fact, REDEMPTION
TRAIL is probably one of the best westerns ever written), wields prose
sharp
enough to give readers a papercut. One gets the impression the author as a
child might have spent a lot of time on the wrong end of a bar of soap,
but
it has only served to make her writing sparkle. Saddling up for mysteries
certainly hasn't diminished that ability. Her snappy turns of phrase seem
limitless and inspired from On High. She creates fascinating characters,
entertaining situations and razor-edged dialog. EAST OF PECULIAR is the
first
in a four book series involving Hannah Garvey (two following novels are
already out, SOUTH OF SANITY and NORTH OF CLEVER with the
June-to-be-released
WEST OF BLISS next up) and the author presents just enough of the
relationship between the leads to get a reader champing at the bit for the
next book.

--Howard Hopkins...

East of Peculiar lives up to the title. Hannah, the new resident manager of a mid-west retirement community (and our heroine) is surrounded by peculiar characters and goings-on. Every time things begin to heat up between her and the local sheriff (and younger man!), another murder or robbery or other strange happening seems to interrupt them. Aided (or often impeded) by a band of senior citizen sleuths, Hannah is determined to figure out what's going on in the retirement community for which she is reponsible. And then she can return the sheriff's romantic advances. This book is a great deal of fun. Curl up on the sofa or on the beach and enjoy!

The only reason I read this book was that it was the pick for a book group that I'm in. It was billed as a romance and I thooght I'd hate it (I'm not a romance fan). Was I ever surprised! Suzann Ledbetter has created a quirky cast that will keep a smile on your face as you race through this great whodunit! From the "Senior Commando Neighbor Patrol" to the barge-in-any-time ladies aide group, this book hold the interest of anybody who takes the time to read it.