Customer Reviews

Half-Price Homicide: A Dead-End Job Mystery

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love all the books in this series. This was another great mystery.

POSSIBLE SPOILER:
The only thing that left me going "huh?" was the part with the ex-husband. That storyline just seemed a bit odd. It really surprised me. I was hoping for Helen to finally face Rob in court and to see her get a victory. I was totally on her side throughout the series, but now she made a dumb decision and it really took away her credibility. I think it took away the "cozy" element of the series, which disappointed me. I can see how the author could turn this into a plot twist in the future, but it seems like a new chapter is beginning for Phil and Helen and it would have been nice to put her past behind her.

I've read all the other books in the series and loved them. This wasn't as good for several reasons. First, the ex-husband subplot was not worthy of the Helen's character and tarnishes her as a heroine. Not that Helen is a perfect heroine but this was not worthy of her - it sunk to a low that will make future novels hard to read. Second, there were plot holes here and there. This wouldn't have been an issue until they started piling up. Third, there were details that were never resolved (Kathy, Jordan, Mark, Larry, Margery, Peggy, Vera) which made the end of the novel unsatisfying and blunt. Finally, while not everything gets wrapped up neatly with a bow, the ended came up very short. Since the pattern so far with the series is to tie up loose ends, not doing so for this novel made it a huge disappointment and shortchanged the fans of the series. I still recommend the book since it is a very entertaining romp with great characters and dialogue but this is not of the caliber of the other novels.

When the judge awarded Rob half his wife's earnings for life, Helen Hawthorne refuses to pay this outrageous alimony. She leaves her affluent home in St. Louis and goes on the run until she reaches Fort Lauderdale where she works at a series of dead end jobs. Helen also meets her fiancé private investigator Phil at the apartment complex they both live in. Phil wants to marry her, but before they can Helen must return to St. Louis to fix her legal and financial liabilities.

Meanwhile she works at Snapdragon, a high class consignment shop. One of the repeat customers Chrissy comes in with a purse to sell, but her husband follows her to the shop. They end up in a shouting match; broken up by the store owner. Chrissy enters a dressing room to try on a dress. When the proprietor enters to see how it looks on her, Chrissy is dead. Helen knows the woman was murdered as there is blood on a décor pineapple. When she returns from St. Louis, she is shocked that her employer has lost so many customers and considers closing the shop. With Phil's help, Helen investigates the homicide hoping to find the killer and keep the store open.

The Dead-End Job mysteries (see Killer Cuts) are always fun to read due to the heroine but Half-Price Homicide is especially a delight as long story arcs are completed and new ones begin; making this a must for series fans. Meanwhile Rob tries to blackmail his ex wife, but she refuses knowing she will return to St. Louis to end the legal travesty. Her time in Missouri is interesting while her sleuthing in Florida is clever as both subplots blend together smoothly in a fascinating major move forward for Helen.

Harriet Klausner

A Dead End Job Mystery

This is the ninth story in this series and I have enjoyed every one.

This time Helen is working at a high class consignment shoppe at the beck and call of some pretty snobby customers. Rich women can buy anything they want with their pricey store charges, so they buy the clothes and purses from the stores and then resell them at the consignment shoppe at a fraction of the price just so they have spending money, because their husbands won't give them a dime for themselves. The owner Vera has to make sure the customer who buys the items doesn't run in the same circles as the client who sold it. It is a stressful job, but Vera loves it. One of the husbands figures out the scheme and catches his wife in the act of selling her pony hair purse, and a huge argument is played out in front of many customers, Vera and Helen. The husband leaves the store as do most of the customers, but his wife doesn't, she is found dead in the dressing room. Helen again finds herself on yet another suspect list.

Meanwhile, Helen's mother passes away and she must make the arrangements to get her mother home and her fiance Phil talks her into handling her legal woes when she returns home for the funeral, which is no easy task, as her ex-husband again shows up to make trouble but will find himself buried in problems of his own.

And again the tenants in 2C are nothing but trouble.


The plot is tight and moves right along, the regular characters are now like old friends, and the new ones are excellent. This book has it all, murder, mayhem and mischief. The humor factor is high but is blended seamlessly with drama. Many loose ends seem to be tied up in the edition, I don't think this is the end of the series, but Viets may be taking Helen in a different direction. I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next.



FTC Disclosure: Received from a friend..

A comic female amateur sleuth mystery, told SPOV and set in contemporary Fort Lauderdale and St Louis. Helen Hawthorne works in a consignment shop with very high end designer clothes and there's a lot of expertise about rags and tchotchkes. She's hiding her identity to escape paying alimony to her despicable ex-husband who is in cahoots with her even more despicable step=father and horrendous old-line catholic mother
It's one of a series so there's a certain amount of back-plot exposition. A gigantic loose end, concerning the ex-husband's future, is left so as to get us hooked on the next one. It was my first Elaine Viets, but won't be my last.
Does anyone know what a pony-hair purse it. Is it really made of pony's hair woven into a fabric?

Like a few other reviewers, I was excited for the latest installment in the Dead-End Job Mysteries. However, as I made my way through the novel, I was unexpectedly and thoroughly disappointed. This installment in the series felt so contrived, like Viets was rushed to come up up with a way of extending Helen's problems with her ex and this was the first thing she hit on without thinking it through. It was a seriously miscalculated turn for the series. And mystery du jour seemed so obvious to me. The original murder only had two or three possible suspects. The second murder was just a plot device to pare down the already scant list of suspects. And three, the identity of the mysterious blackmailer of Helen's sister is clearly gonna turn out to be the ex-husband, who isn't dead after all. Mystery solved for Book 10 in the series. There - I saved you the time and the money.

I was a little disappointed by this book, since it lacked Viets' usual humor and snappy dialogue. I don't believe it is a good gauge of Viets' talent. As another reader said, it seems the series has run out of steam.

Having read the entire series, I was excited to read this latest installment. Too bad I am now not looking forward to any future books in this series. I agree with other reviewers who were disappointed in the ex-husband subplot. The way it was handled was almost a cop-out. Probably the author was looking for a way for Helen to still be running from "the law" but this was just pathetic. It was time to let Helen and Phil start their new life and take that in a new direction. This situation hanging over her head was just not necessary, and at the expense of a kid? Just wrong. I am sorry that Viets felt this was necessary as I will probably not read any more books in this series. It's just too bad it had to end this way.

I was let down by this book. I've read all the other books in her two series, and felt like this was not up to her usual work. I would've like to have seen Helen work in a different setting (clothing boutique was been done before). Tension with other characters seemed resolved too neatly and quickly. But the main thing that bothered me was the repetition. Viets tells us what's happening on one page, then retells the same details a few pages later, as if the reader has amnesia. This happened a few times and I found it irritating. Otherwise, an okay quick read. I do look forward to seeing what happens in the next book since we've been set up with a glaringly obvious unresolved circumstance. I don't like to slam authors, I know how hard they work, I just wish this was better edited.

Talk about being embarrassed--after raving about "Killer Cuts" and how Viets' series (both of them) just keep getting better and better, I pick up "Half Price Homicide" and wish I could take it all back.

In what is obviously a transition book, Helen Hawthorne wraps up just about every loose end from the previous books: her St Louis legal problems, romance problems, mother problem, and job problems and develops a pretty unbelievable ex-husband problem. The mystery isn't very good. Helen and her sister (in addition to making some very bad choices) let their mother's husband run all over them. Frankly, this book was just bad. I haven't read book the next when Helen's life has totally changed (we even know her real name now) and I'm not sure I will.

Oh, Elaine, you have SOOOO let me down.