Customer Reviews

It Had to Be You (Grace & Favor Mysteries, No. 5)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"It Had to Be You" is Jill Churchill's 5th book in the "Grace & Favor Mystery Series," which chronicles siblings, Lily and Robert Brewster's life in a small town during the Depression. We continue to view how they are coping with the terms of their Uncle's will, which stipulates that they must live and work in Voorburg for 10 years before they can inherit the wealthy estate.

To earn money, the siblings temporarily work at a private nursing home. When an overbearing old man is smothered, they work with Police Chief Howard to help solve the mystery.

I LOVE these characters and this book is no exception. I was reading another book when this arrived from Amazon and I could hardly wait to start reading it.

"It Had to Be You" transports the reader back to the early 1930's and immerses one in the jargon, names, and historical data of the time period. I was AMAZED at how this book was so well researched and the attention to historic detail that it showed. We learn of Roosevelt's inauguration; of his imposed restrictions on the banking industry and his fireside radio chats. We also meet traveling salesmen with the latest novelties: "samples" - small products of new items such as "Bisquick" that allow the consumer to try them before buying.

I especially enjoyed reading about Robert's suggestion of the dumb waiter. Churchill is an absolute MASTER at realism.

More than any other "Grace and Favor" book, "It Had to Be You" focuses more on the daily life of Lily and Robert Brewster rather than the mystery itself per se. If you seek a mystery that leaves your heart pounding and wondering who the culprit is, "It Had to Be You," is probably not the best choice. And to be honest, if you are seeking a great romance - these two are as celibate in thought and deed as it gets....

But if you seek an historic delve into the lives of two great characters (even if they both need a little romance in their lives!) - you can't go wrong. It is especially interesting how the Brewsters do a variety of odd jobs, and I look forward to the next book to learn what they will be involved in next!

Churchill is a wonderfully gifted writer and the series is great.

The year is 1933 and Franklin Delano Roosevelt has just been inaugurated as President of the United States and the country continues to suffer from the effects of Great Depression. On the banks of the Hudson River, Lily and Robert Brewster, sister and brother left paupers at the outset of the Depression continue to live in the white elephant house they inherited from their great uncle Horatio. But they haven't inherited the house quite yet. The house is known as a Grace and Favor home according to a custom once practiced in great Britain which requires that the inheritors live in the house and work in the area for 10 years to sustain themselves before they really inherit the house.

This is the backdrop for It Had to Be You by Jill Churchill the fifth book in the author's Grace and Favor series featuring amateur sleuths Lily and Robert Brewster. As they have done in the previous cozy mysteries in this series, they are once again called upon to help solve a murder. This time the murder takes place in a local nursing home when an elderly patient is smothered and where Lily and Robert are working while the home is severely understaffed.  With an interesting cast of characters the author has fashioned another charming book about the Brewsters, their unusual living arrangements and some of the other local residents chief among them the Chiefs of Police of two towns, a journalist for the local newspaper and the woman who owns the nursing home. The story does become even more interesting when a second body is found in a pond and readers wonder if the two murders are somehow related. And who could have done these deadly deeds as the finger points to several suspects.

While I enjoyed this book and would suggest it to others who enjoy cozy mysteries, I do recommend beginning the series with the first book Anything Goes which remains my favorite titles of this series. I would also suggest reading another series written by this author which features a housewife turned sleuth named Jane Jeffrey.

In my opinion Jill Churchill always provides her readers with a nicely spun mystery which is good reading and at times even amusing. Once again I look forward to a new book in either of her "must read" series for me.

Robert and Lily work hard in order to keep their guesthouse, Grace & Favor, during the Great Depression. The siblings take on temporary jobs at a nearby nursing home, but they are soon trying to help police solve a murder. A crabby old patient in the home is smothered, even though he would have died naturally within days. To add to this puzzling event, the body of a young man is found as the ice melts in a lake at a nearby town. How can the two murders possibly be connected?

It Had To Be You is a cozy portrayal of village life during the Great Depression with a mystery thrown in the mix. The characters are interesting and believable, and author Jill Churchill has obviously done her research on the era. The book has a genteel feel that seems very appropriate to the time. Don't expect blazing guns and madcap action, but do enjoy the delightfully depicted period details.

This is the fifth Grace & Favor novel, but it stands well on its own. Churchill does an excellent job of introducing characters and providing hints of their pasts without having readers wade through explanations of what happened in previous books.

My first in this series to read and it stood on its own very well. The characters were welldefined and the only part I didn't like would be how I felt when it ended and I read the title again. I felt silly for not figuring it out more!

Lily and Robert fill in at a nursing home and quick as you please, a patient dies mysteriously. Typical plan follows to question everyone and it leads them to the killer.

It's 1933. Lily and her brother Robert not only take in boarders at Grace and Favor, but they also take on jobs now and then. Miss Twibell who runs a local nursing home has hired them while her assistant nurse is out sick.

There are many colorful characters in the home. One old man, Sean Connor, is the only seriously ill patient. He is also very hard to deal with. He slips into a coma and passes away. No one was surprised by his death as he was very ill. That is, until it is discovered he was murdered. Why would anyone murder him when he only had hours left? He wasn't well liked, even by his family. So, there are lots of suspects. He had several visits the morning he was killed.

Then a body surfaces when the spring arrives and melts the ice. Could this be the young mad who had disappeared last winter? Or has a third crime been committed?

Lily and Robert become involved in helping to solve these crimes. Plus Robert makes some great suggested to Miss Twibell to upgrade her home and assists with those upgrades.

Motives for Mr. Connor's death are not as abundant as suspects, so it takes a lot of detecting and interviewing for it to be discovered and the guilty party caught.

I love this series. Lily and Robert are terrific. This is one of the few series set back in time that I enjoy so thoroughly. Jill Churchill has done a wonderful job creating these characters and the setting. The other people in town are also great characters in this series. They are all so well crafted. I feel like I'm there when I read a book in this series. Her books are so easy to read, and you don't want to put them down.

I highly recommend this book. The Grace and Favor series is not to be missed.

After reading the last entry in the Jane Jeffry mystery series and being less than impressed, I was hoping for more from the latest in the Grace & Favor series. Unfortunately, I was disappointed again. While the book does do a wonderful job of transporting the reader to a small town in New York during the Depression, it does a less than masterful job of solving the mystery in the book.

If you have not read the book, you may wish to skip the rest of my review as it will not tell you whodunnit, but will give away some of the plot.

The story opens with Lily and Robert having gotten yet another part-time job - this one at the nursing home up the road. The first day that both of them are working there, a crochety patient is suffocated to death in his bed. The odd thing is that the patient had slipped into a coma and according to Miss Twibell, the proprietor of the home, would have probably passed away that day regardless. While this detail is constantly mentioned throughout the book, the resolution does not explain the need for the patient to be murdered when he would have died anyway. There are many unresolved details in the book that are probably there as red herrings, however instead of being neatly explained later, they are just left hanging at the end of the book. I don't know if Ms. Churchill originally intended for another character to be the murderer or not, but I feel the book could have been much more entertaining from a mystery perspective had she chosen another character for the villain.

If you are looking for a entertaining and diverting read with a secondary mystery, this book would be fine. However, if you are expecting a rollicking mystery with a twist, skip it. Not Ms. Churchill's best - not even close.

Robert and Lily Brewster are siblings trying to make ends meet during the Depression. They have inherited their great uncle's mansion, but still must take in boarders and do odd jobs to earn money. In this installment in the "Grace and Favor" series, they take temporary jobs in a nursing home. Before long they are involved in another mystery when one of the patients is smothered in his bed. There are plenty of suspects, including the patient's wife and family, many of whom haven't seen or talked to him in years. But then another body turns up and the Brewsters, along with Chief of Police Howard Walker, work to find out if the two cases are related and catch the murderer.

"It Had to Be You" is an amusing, if light mystery. The historical details, Franklin Roosevelt has just been elected President, are the most interesting parts of the book. Lily and Robert and strong characters, maturing with each book in the series. While there have been hints in the descriptions of the various books that Lily is attracted to Howard Walker, it doesn't come across that way in the book, there's no sense of any attraction between the two of them. I hope that's developed in future books.

The mystery itself is pretty light. Jill Churchill throws in plenty of suspects, but it's pretty obvious from the beginning who the murderer is. I read the book hoping that Churchill would throw in a plot twist and have someone else commit the murder, but I was disappointed. And she never explains why the murder took place when the victim was very ill and hours away from dying.

This is a good but unchallenging mystery.

Our story begins on Friday, March 3, 1933. Robert and Lily Brewster are siblings trying to make it through the Depression. They live in their great-uncle's "Grace and Favor" mansion, penniless but doing well. Franklin Roosevelt's inauguration is under way. Robert even makes a very uncomfortable trip to Washington to witness the historic even.

The day after Robert returns home (he needed a day to recover), he goes with Lily to their new temporary job. Miss Twibell has turned her huge house into a nursing home and one of her employees is out sick for awhile.

Trouble follows the Brewsters, as it normally does, One of the elderly residents, Mr. Sean Connor, is murdered in his bed. The bizarre thing is that everyone knew Mr. Connor only had a few more hours to live anyway. Why would someone bother to kill him? Since he was such an ill tempered man, he had no close friends. No one seems to have liked the man; not even his wife or kids. His children has had no contact with Mr. or Mrs. Connor in years.

Chief of Police Howard Walker is on the case, but he cannot seem to make much head way. Not for lack of trying though. Howard is an excellent cop. The Connor case is not the only one on Howard's mind. Spring thaw has turned up another body that had spent the cold months under an iced over pond.

***** Be warned that this is a reprint! Now that you know, let me inform you about his good mystery. The author did an outstanding job with this tale. The characters are all believable and the era description is true to form. Historical data has been inserted as well, which gives it all a realistic glow. Author Jill Churchill's fan base is about to grow. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Once they were society's darlings, rich enough to live for today and not care about tomorrow; then the stock market crash of 1929 left them destitute, forced to live in a cold water tenement in New York City. When a relative dies, he makes provisions for Robert and Lily Brewster to live in the Grace and Favor Cottage in Voorburg on the Hudson and has his attorney control the money to make sure they have enough to keep the mansion running smoothly.

If they want to buy some luxuries, they have to get a job because the cottage and money meant for them is held in a trust and administered by an attorney. The brother and sister team are asked to work in a nursing home until the two people who are out sick return. While there, a patient Sean Connor dies and everyone soon learns that he was suffocated. What makes this so puzzling is that the homicide victim only had hours to live and when Lily and Robert learn of this; they start snooping, hoping to find a clue that will lead them to a murderer.

IT HAD TO BE YOU is an exciting, light-hearted amateur sleuth novel that takes place just days after President Roosevelt takes office. Readers get a sense of how the Great Depression affected people, especially the upper class many of whom lost their fortunes. It is rare for a mystery too have two equally well developed protagonists but creative writer Jill Churchill manages it. This series is so delightful that readers will find themselves eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Harriet Klausner

It Had to Be You is a charming cozy mystery set in the 1930's, back when mysteries weren't hampered by modern technology and forensics. The Grace & Favor series reminds me of Agatha Christie's mysteries that featured Tommy & Tuppence. Both contain a male/female amateur detecting team operating in approximately the same time period. Jill Churchill captures the feel of the 30's well, especially having her main characters suffering a great financial loss from the stock market crash of 1929. In It Had to Be You, FDR's presidential inauguration and the repeal of prohibition are experienced, lending authenticity to the atmosphere.

The mystery in It Had to Be You was who killed a gravely ill man, but the much more important question was why would someone even bother killing this man when he was going to die naturally in a matter of days or even hours. The killer is found and proves to be a surprise, but the question as to why kill him at all isn't really answered even though many characters brought the point up at different times in the book. It's a baffling question and the novel feels incomplete without a solid explanation.

It Had to Be You is a short and sweet mystery that isn't particularly gripping. The story flows along nicely, but there wasn't anything happening that would entice the reader to continue. If put down, I doubt anyone would be anxious about getting back to it.