Customer Reviews

An Intimate Ghost (Jane Lawless Mysteries)

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In this 12th installment of the Jane Lawless mystery series, the opening prologue begins with a gripping kidnapping that takes place on Halloween in 1972. The circumstances of that prologue don't connect up for some time, but the shadow of the kidnapping hangs over the events that follow. In the present day, Jane Lawless is called to the location of a wedding her staff is catering. The guests are behaving oddly, and it quickly becomes clear that they've been poisoned with something hallucinogenic. The police come, and the wedding guests are rushed to the hospital, but not before the Nick, the bridegroom, is badly injured diving into an empty swimming pool. Jane is frantic. Not only is she upset that people have been injured after eating her catered food, but she also fears lawsuits. Who would do such a terrible thing? She can't believe her workers would have anything to do with it. Why has she been targeted?

Alden Clifford, the groom's father, is a high school teacher, and he comes to the forefront as it becomes apparent that the attack might be connected to him and not about Jane at all. Six months earlier he had tried to prevent a school shooting, and the boy with the gun eventually shot and killed himself. Allegations about Alden's relationship with the boy come out, and Jane begins to wonder if this has made Alden the intended target. Nothing is immediately resolved, and Jane and The Lyme House are under police investigation. Jane turns to her best friend, Cordelia, but Cordelia has her own problems: namely a toddler dumped upon her doorstep by her sister. The little niece and Cordelia offer some great comic moments, and Cordelia, all by herself, is always funny. She refuses to ride in Jane's new Mini Cooper, calling it the "Daisy Duck-mobile." Instead she has bought herself a green Hummer, a useful purchase which becomes clear later in the novel.

With an intricately interwoven plot, Hart rolls out perfectly timed scenes and details. The tension builds as the injury and death count increases. The author has never been better and does a marvelous job weaving in a compelling back story with the events of the present. She draws the reader in to this complex structure and doesn't let go until the final denouement some three hundred pages later. It's a gripping and compelling story. By the time the reader reaches the end, an intimate ghost has truly made its haunting presence known. (...)

In Evergreen High School in Minneapolis, student Cullen Hegg pulls out a gun in the middle of a history class but his teacher Alden Clifford manages to talk the sophomore into letting the rest of the students leave. When it's just the two of them, Alden tries to talk Cullen out of using the gun but the despondent boy kills himself. The teacher is lauded by the media, the faculty and the other students from preventing even more bloodshed, but Alden doesn't think of himself as a hero and avoids publicity.

Several months later Jane Lawless, owner of the Lyme House Restaurant and Pub, caters the wedding ceremony of Alden's son Nick and Lauren Bautel.. However, someone placed hallucinogens into the food leading to Nick diving into an empty swimming pool and winding up in Intensive care. Jane identifies the culprit who flavored the food finally makes contact with him. Jane agrees to meet him at the hotel where he is hiding out. When she arrives, he is already dead and the murderer got away which means Jane is going to have to approach the problem from a different angle without getting herself killed.

Ellen Hart has written a very complex and fascinating amateur sleuth novel that has many sub-plots that tie back seamlessly to original theme. Through the use of flashbacks, readers gradually realize how the crimes of three decades ago are the catalyst for the dangerous felonies that are happening today. The heroine gradually pieces together the motivations for the death of her employee and the sprinkling of drugs in the food at the wedding buffet. INTIMATE GHOST deserves a Lambda Award consideration.

Harriet Klausner

Ellen Hart is the mistress of mystery. "An Intimate Ghost" is no exception to the wonders of the remarkably talented, award-winning author known for her intricate plots, witty dialogue, flawless characterizations, and engrossing stories. "An Intimate Ghost," the continuation of the Jane Lawless series, touted as the best one yet, has been deservedly nominated for a Lambda Literary Award and the Golden Crown Literary Society Award for 2005.

Jane Lawless has had formal training as a restaurateur, consummate chef, and caterer. In the continuing saga about the amateur detective, wedding guests start acting weird after ingesting gourmet food catered by her company. WHO poisoned the food, WHAT did they use, WHERE was it executed, WHEN did they do it, and WHY... are the questions Jane wants to figure out. Never mind that the police have started their investigation. Jane could be found culpable, and wants to clear her company's name. Even if the wedding hadn't been for her friends, Nick and Lauren Clifford, and Nick hadn't ended up in critical condition from a drug-induced dive into an empty pool, Jane still would have had to solve the mystery. It's not surprising that she enlists the help of her trusty sidekick, Cordelia Thorn, if for nothing other than comic relief. Jane and Cordelia are just hysterical together and they make a perfect crime solving team.

The fact that Cordelia, the creative director of a repertory theater, is a bit pre-occupied when her sister, Octavia, literally drops her kid in her aunt's lap and takes off for stardom, doesn't stop the dependable Cordelia from helping her best friend Jane. Cordelia is hardly the mother hen type and her life is disrupted beyond compare by the addition of niece Hattie. Ellen Hart depicts the toddler so convincingly that this reviewer almost got up on more than one occasion to prepare a "kid friendly" snack, but was reminded that she was just a fictitious character.

Hart is not only a master mystery writer, but her storytelling is as delectable as restaurateur Jane Lawless's culinary treats. "An Intimate Ghost" is appetizing, fulfilling, and deliciously funny with Jane's deadpan humor and Cordelia's catchy comebacks. Hart also writes with a contemporary flair that goes a long way to add to the believability of the story. Even the cars Jane and Cordelia choose to drive fit their personalities perfectly.

In "An Intimate Ghost," nothing is ever as it seems even when things seem to be crystal clear. Readers will find the story riveting, and the conclusion of each chapter keeps the reader hungering for more. To me, this is mystery writing at its best and I am quick to recommend anything penned by this outstanding and deserving award-winning author. Ellen Hart has written another funny, fast-paced, first rate, five plus star novel. Do not miss this gem. I highly suggest you purchase a copy today!

Ellen Hart's mysteries are a pleasure to read. They have great characters, a cozy setting, and wonderful descriptions of food! This book does not disappoint on any of the above. Despite being able to see the ending coming, I would still reccommend this a a good mystery. And it's nice to know that Jane has finally found a new love interest - as a lesbian I just wish that Ellen Hart would develop that aspect of Jane's character a little more. At times Jane just seems a little too assimilated.

This is the third Jane Lawless mystery I've read. And, this is the one that has disappointed me. There are several mysteries occurring in this book. First, via flashbacks, drug dealer Jimmy loses his little sister to some thugs. What happened to Patsy? What happened to Jimmy?

Second mystery, why would someone spike the food at Nick Clifford's wedding? Could it have to do with his father, Alden's, involvement in a school shooting? Is Alden the hero of the shooting, or did his actions cause the shooter to go off the deep end?

The shooter, who committed suicide, was Cullen Hegg. Cullen's father is lost in severe depression. Cullen's brother, Steven, appears to be the 'golden child'. He seems so different from Cullen's two best friends. But is he?

Then there's Lauren, Nick's wife. Lauren has been in a stupor since her disasterous wedding. And then there's thus mysterious health aide, Kenzie. Cordelia doesn't trust her; Jane is attracted. Hmmm....

A really annoying subplot: Cordelia's niece, Hattie and sister, Octavia. I wasn't all that interested. Hart's attempts at humor- Cordelia showing the toddler Barbra Stanwyck movies- just isn't funny. NONE OF IT WAS FUNNY!

I was more interested in the dysfunctional relationships exploding. Mary Clifford's infidelities. Allegations of pedophilia. Allegations of Lauren's infidelities. Patsy's murder. OOOO, I'm hooked.

The resolution was simply silly. Everyone is tied together in a most assinine manner. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say that it was sooo ridiculously disappointing. I won't be reading other Jane Lawless books.

In this twelfth installment of the Jane Lawless mystery series, the opening prologue begins with a gripping kidnapping that takes place on Halloween in 1972. The circumstances of that prologue don't connect up for some time, but the shadow of the kidnapping hangs over the events that follow. In the present day, Jane Lawless is called to the location of a wedding her staff is catering. The guests are behaving oddly, and it quickly becomes clear that they've been poisoned with something hallucinogenic. The police come, and the wedding guests are rushed to the hospital, but not before the Nick, the bridegroom, is badly injured diving into an empty swimming pool. Jane is frantic. Not only is she upset that people have been injured after eating her catered food, but she also fears lawsuits. Who would do such a terrible thing? She can't believe her workers would have anything to do with it. Why has she been targeted?

Alden Clifford, the groom's father, is a high school teacher, and he comes to the forefront as it becomes apparent that the attack might be connected to him and not about Jane at all. Six months earlier he had tried to prevent a school shooting, and the boy with the gun eventually shot and killed himself. Allegations about Alden's relationship with the boy come out, and Jane begins to wonder if this has made Alden the intended target. Nothing is immediately resolved, and Jane and The Lyme House are under police investigation. Jane turns to her best friend, Cordelia, but Cordelia has her own problems: namely a toddler dumped upon her doorstep by her sister. The little niece and Cordelia offer some great comic moments, and Cordelia, all by herself, is always funny. She refuses to ride in Jane's new Mini Cooper, calling it the "Daisy Duck-mobile." Instead she has bought herself a green Hummer, a useful purchase which becomes clear later in the novel.

With an intricately interwoven plot, Hart rolls out perfectly timed scenes and details. The tension builds as the injury and death count increases. The author has never been better and does a marvelous job weaving in a compelling back story with the events of the present. She draws the reader in to this complex structure and doesn't let go until the final denouement some three hundred pages later. It's a gripping and compelling story. By the time the reader reaches the end, an intimate ghost has truly made its haunting presence known. Highly recommended. ~Lori L. Lake, author of Stepping Out, Different Dress, Gun Shy, Under The Gun, and Ricochet In Time, and reviewer for Midwest Book Review, The Independent Gay Writer, The Gay Read, and Just About Write.

I had to force myself to finish this book. And that's a real shame; I started this story as a die-hard fan of the Jane Lawless series.

Bad things happen to greedy, selfish people here. Frankly, by the time the initial "mystery" from Chapter 1 was explained/revealed it was really too late for me.
I'm truly hoping that part of the problem was an aberration.

The flashbacks detracted from the story. I would have preferred Jimmy's story to have been presented as one prologue than as several short pieces inserted at random throughout. If they were intended as transition mechanisms, that failed. They took me out of the present-day action so much that the return was jolting.

That's about as specific as I can get without giving away the story to those who haven't read it.

The previous volumes have each been self-contained with no recurring characters, aside from Jane's family and friends. However, I came away with loose ends from this book. Either they need to be addressed (by reference) early on in the next one, or Ms. Hart needs to get her pacing back.