4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Divine Intervention, January 28, 2003
This review is from: Heavenly Detour (Hardcover)
Have you ever wished you could be a fly on the wall, and eavesdrop on others? Annie Dowd does that in "Heavenly Detour," but her circumstances are not heavenly. She's downright frustrated to find herself dead, and on a detour from this earthly dimension to the next. Annie's mother would say it's neither milk nor meat, meaning there's no definition for this place Annie's inhabitating. But Ma Edelstein doesn't know her daughter is hovering over her, witnessing her grief, but unable to console her.
Some say that ghosts are the presences of people who die young, unexpectedly, and are not at peace with their demise. That pretty much describes Annie; who says, "No one was more surprised by my drowning than I."
She remembers the party at Agnes Spurgeon's Long Island estate, where realtors from Royal Roosts are celebrating July Fourth. She remembers getting cozy with a charming Englishman, and drinking wine with him, and that he suddenly disappears. Memory blurs and the next thing she knows, she's floating in the pool.
No one who attended the party seems to have a motive to drown Annie. As Detectives Louis Martola and Charlene Williams talk to Annie's friends and colleagues, they learn that not only was she a good swimmer, she had no enemies. Everyone loved (or at least liked or tolerated) her. The shapely Detective Williams discovers that she's Annie's "receiver," picking up useful information as well as irreverent comments from---the ghost of Annie Dowd?
In addition to playing detective, Annie attends her own funeral. And she falls in love all over again with her ex-husband, Frank Dowd, an overseas investigative reporter. He has hurried back to New York to pay his respects to Annie and her family and to do some private sleuthing. Annie and Frank had been on good terms, seeing each other even after their divorce, but in her altered state Annie can't get through to Frank when things get dangerous. Nor can she compete for his attention when he casts his roving eyes on Detective Williams. She gives Frank her blessing; they're seemingly a match made in Heaven.
Throughout the book, you might forget that Annie is dead; after all, she's telling the story, from her unique perspective. But when the whodunit is solved, and Annie gracefully gives up the ghost and goes to her reward, you'll miss her.
Don't despair. Annie Dowd enjoys making her presence known, so we can hope that she'll make another appearance in the capable hands of talented storyteller Joanne Meyer.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
comedic who-done-it along the lines of TOPPER, February 2, 2003
This review is from: Heavenly Detour (Hardcover)
Anne Dowd makes a decent living working for Royal Roosts, a real estate firm dealing in uptown Manhattan rentals and sub leases. The whole office is invited to spend July 4th at the owner Agnes Spurgeon's country estate in Sand Point, Long Island. When Annie arrives she meets Michael Rheims, a gorgeous Brit, who puts the moves on her. Anne isn't unhappy with this development but before she gets to enjoy it for very long, she winds up floating dead in the swimming pool.
Annie's ghost lingers on Earth watching the crime scene unfold, observing her family grieve for her, and seeing her ex-husband come home to help the police find out who murdered her. She is able to communicate with only one person, a female detective assigned to her case who takes Annie's presence as an additional aid in solving the case. Everyone, including Annie, comes to the conclusion that the person who killed her is someone she knew and probably trusted.
This is not a dark, foreboding or depressing mystery but a comedic who-done-it along the lines of TOPPER. The heroine has a tongue in check attitude about her own death so the reader doesn't feel morbid because an innocent person was killed. Joanne Meyer's debut novel is exceedingly well written with brilliant characterizations.
Harriet Klausner
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Fun, but was a little disappointed, November 7, 2006
I thought the book was fun in a cute way. You know from the beginning how it's going to end for the most part, but I have to admit I was disappointed in the ending itself. I won't give it away but I felt like the book just completely fell apart in the last few pages. The come-uppance for the bad guy was a direct steal from a well known movie (and I mean down to the last detail) and then it was just over. However, that said, I will probably give one of her other books a try just out of curiosity.
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