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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Better than expected, March 12, 2007
I picked "Hell Hath No Curry" out of force of habit more than anything else. I discovered Tamar Myers in an airport where I picked up "Just Plain Pickled to Death" and the Den of Antiquity mystery--the one about the silver tea set-- that actually involves Abby & Co. traveling to Magdalena's hometown. At first I loved Ms. Myers' offbeat sense of humor and even the little self-deprecating self references and the occasional self promotions. Somewhere along the way, the tone of the books changed and I have not enjoyed the last several entries in either series. Again, I read them out of habit but I didn't enjoy them nearly as much I had enjoyed earlier entries. That being said, I had fun reading "Hell Hath No Curry". It *sounded* more like the earlier books, although I wish Freni, Mose, and Susannah had more active roles. I love the original secondary characters. I even missed Melvin the teensiest bit. If you're a die-hard Mags fan, definitely read this book. If you're a semi-fan, well, if nothing else, you can always amuse yourself by playing a drinking game--take one shot every time you come across the phrase "sturdy Christian underwear".
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Book Hath No Merit, August 18, 2007
I just discovered this series about 7 months ago and have now read every book in order. Ms. Myers started off with a good idea, some clever writing, fair to middling plots and a few interesting recipies. Over the series everything has declined to the point that by this book, which may (or should) be the last in the series that there are no ideas, the barest of plots, and poor writing. The recipies remained interesting, but Ms. Myers acknowledges that they all come from another source. I actually had to hunt to find any reference (other than the recipies) to "curry" in this book to at least explain the title. There isn't one. By reading the entire series in a short time span I was able to note that the author favors repeating jokes in each book and does not favor reviewing her past efforts for continuity. Characters' names change, others are introduced and then dissappear. Plot elements, e.g. a new familial relationship, are presented and then left dangling, One sub-plot (Custard's Last Stand) even hinged on the dissapperance of a character some years prior to the book's start even though that character was alive and well in the immediatly preceeding book the events of which supposedly took place three months earlier. Its time to stick a fork in the series--its done.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Phoned in?, February 27, 2007
After reading the first couple of pages, I wondered if the publisher had put the wrong cover on the book? The "voice" of Magdalena sounded completely off! Myers does get back into the more familair Mags, but never completely so. There are enough of Myers' own touches that I'll discount the possibility of a ghostwriter, although the thought did occur to me. Her sister makes a token appearance or two; Zelda Root is referenced a couple of times. If I had to guess, I'd say Myers summoned up just enough interest to push through this book to fulfill her contractual obligation. To be honest, if that contract has another book or two remaining, she and the publisher ought to work out a deal - she's pretty clearly not interested, which shows, so readers might be leery of reading the series further. I know I am. I want to emphasize that I still believe Ms. Myers to be a great writer. I'd love to see a completely new series for her.
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