Hallowed Murder (Jane Lawless Mysteries) [Paperback]

Ellen Hart (Author)

Book Description

Series: Jane Lawless Mysteries | Publication Date: December 11, 2003

Jane Lawless is a woman at a crossroads - her lover has left, she has finally recovered from a vicious attack sustained last year, and the holidays are closing in. With no one to help her ring in the new year, Jane reluctantly agrees to accompany her good friend Cordelia Thorn on a peculiar holiday trip: Cordelia's estranged sister, Broadway star Octavia Thorn, has asked them to attend her wedding.

Octavia getting married is no surprise - she's done it three times before - but her candidate for hubby #4 certainly is. Roland Lester is a reclusive eighty-three-year-old retired Hollywood director, a relic from the golden age of Tinseltown with a controversial past. No one can understand how the two met, much less fell in love. When the bodies start to drop, Jane realizes it might not be love at all that brought the young diva and the aged director together, but something much deeper, and perhaps more sinister.

Delving deep into film history, Jane finds unsettling connections between Roland and a murder that was never solved. Finding out what happened 40 years ago could be the key to unlock the mystery of Octavia's curious marriage, but laying bare such long-buried secrets also promises grave consequences for everyone involved.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After discovering a sorority sister drowned near her alma mater, restaurateur Jane Lawless embarks on an investigation to untangle the events that led to Allison Lord's death. Because little evidence exists, the police assume Allison committed suicide; but Jane is somehow convinced that the young woman was murdered. This debut mystery ambitiously raises such issues as fundamentalism, homosexuality, bigotry and psychological torment within the family--it is virtually a novel of ideas. And for the most part, the plot is deftly paced, with occasional snags. But when the murderer is revealed, even though the identity comes as a surprise, the character is among the least developed, inspired or provocative in Hart's cast--so outlandish a culprit that the reader is left unmoved.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

"Hart's crisp, elegant writing and atmosphere [are] reminiscent of the British detective style, but she has a nicer sense of character, confrontation, and sparsely utilized violence....HALLOWED MURDER is as valuable for its mainstream influences as for
its sexual politics."
MYSTERY SCENE
Book one in the Jane Lawless murder mystery series, of which Sandra Scoppettone says: "Ellen Hart is a writer to watch and so is her lesbian sleuth."
The police think Allison drowned, but her University of Minnesota sorority sisters insist it was murder. That's when almunae advisor Jane Lawless steps in to find the truth. Abetted by her irrepresssible sidekick Cordelia, Jane searches for clues, and what she finds is as chilling as the Minnesota winter--for in those icy drifts, at a lonely vacation house, she risks everything to ensnare a cunning killer.... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (December 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312319312
• ISBN-13: 978-0312319311
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #839,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ellen Hart is the author of twenty-five crime novels in two different series.?? She is a five-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, a three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Best Popular Fiction, a three-time winner of the Golden Crown Literary Award, a recipient of the Alice B Medal, and was made an official GLBT Literary Saint at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans in 2005. ?? Entertainment Weekly??named her one of the "101 Movers and Shakers in the Gay Entertainment Industry." For the past twelve years, Ellen has taught "An Introduction to Writing the Modern Mystery" through the The Loft Literary Center, the largest independent writing community in the nation. Ellen's newest Sophie Greenway mystery is No Reservations Required, (Ballantine, June 2005). The Mirror and the Mask, the seventeenth Jane Lawless mystery, was released by St. Martin's/Minotaur in November 2009.?? Ellen lives in Minneapolis with her partner of 32 years.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is one of the truly rare mysteries..., February 8, 2000

By 

Tim R. Niles "Nomad" (Silicon Valley) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hallowed Murder (Jane Lawless Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

where every paragraph leaves a distinct impression. Ellen Hart writes with a deft sense of place and time which mysteries often lack.

She has also crafted her main characters well to convey a sense of friendship, intimacy, and an amazing sense of humor.

This not only fine writing within the mystery format, it is fine writing, period.

Needless to say, the lesbian element was handled beautifully. This is the kind of statement about gays which should be made because it transcends the garish, tabloid styles of too much of the media (or, counter-media) and presents the human side... of human beings.

Clever plotting; rare character subtleties; solid, often unexpected, humor; special insights; an unusual location with deft understanding of the urban university society.

Yes.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly original mystery ... with a great protagonist, April 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hallowed Murder (Jane Lawless Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I don't know who I liked more, the lesbian sleuth Jane Lawless or her slightly overweight (yeah!) buddy Cordelia! More than just a "whodunnit," this book is part character study, part Minnesota travelogue, and very much a good read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

0 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars book unread, December 28, 2008

By 

S. Vars "Happy Nana" (Oxnard, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hallowed Murder (Jane Lawless) (Paperback)

Book received; haven't had time to read it yet. Will do so after the first of the year. Added to my collection.