Customer Reviews

The Iron Girl: A Jane Lawless Mystery

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There is no doubt that we are blessed with many talented mystery writers. There are, however, only a handful of books each year that are exceptional. Ellen Hart's The Iron Girl is one of those. I've read many of Hart's novels and while they are all well written, compelling and interesting stories, The Iron Girl is spectacular.

The death of Jane Lawless' life partner Christine Kane many years ago did not put closure on their relationship. With a new relationship beginning, Jane realizes she must move on. She begins the sad and disturbing job of going through the boxes of Christine's belongings that have waited for so many years. During the examination of Christine's possessions, Jane finds a gun. What is unusual is that Christine abhorred guns and that it actually belonged to an eccentric and wealthy Minneapolis family. This family had members of the household brutally murdered the night before Christine died of cancer.

Jane is unable to put aside the gun and other discoveries she's made. She is determined to learn what happened at the Simoneau household and how Christine fit in with the murders. As she searches, a Christine look-alike moves to town, clouding Jane's ability to think clearly.

Jane's past and present collide in a deadly and sensational manner. Only Jane can find out what truly happened. But it just might put her and others in a great deal of danger.

This latest episode in the Jane Lawless series is as emotional and dramatic as I've ever seen Ellen Hart's writing. Her plot is both fascinating and heart wrenching, the characters full-bodied and complex with all the real-life human frailties and vulnerabilities. The intensity of emotions is so real you'll find yourself drawn in and living the story.

Armchair Interviews says: The Iron Girl is one of the best and most intriguing mysteries of 2005. It is definitely a must read!

After years of mourning, Minneapolis restaurateur and amateur sleuth Jane Lawless is finally starting to come out of the funk she fell into following the tragic death of her partner Christine Kane. Having found new hope from her long distance relationship with Kenzie Mullroy, she tackles the sad task of going through the boxes of Christine's personal items that she had stored away. Much to her dismay, she discovers a gun amidst Christine's keepsakes which had been deemed a key piece of evidence in a notorious murder trial some eighteen years before. Desperate to know what Christine's involvement in that case was, she undertakes a private investigation into a sensational triple murder which has generated controversy locally and nationally for nearly two decades.

Although this was my first Jane Lawless book (The Iron Girl is the thirteenth book in the series which began in 1989 with Hallowed Murder), I felt as if I had been reading about her for ages. Falling under Hart's spell within a few pages, I took an immediate interest in Jane and her extended family, and in the small corner of Minnesota where The Iron Girl is set. Hart lays her cards on the table with great patience, stringing her readers along with an intoxicating mixture of danger, humor and romance, keeping them riveted until she can deliver her jolting and satisfying conclusion. They say you'll always remember your first, and that's definitely true for me in the case of Jane Lawless, Ellen Hart and The Iron Girl.

Ellen Hart has another winner in her Jane Lawless series. "The Iron Girl" finally provides us with the back story of Jane and her partner Christine who died of cancer. Woven throughout this backstory is Jane dealing with her feelings for Christine (still very much in evidence years after her passing)while trying to move on with her life.

There isn't a rock 'em, sock 'em finish like Cordelia driving her Hummer through a dining room to create a diversion, but this is still a very satisfying read for Lawless fans.

I've read all of Hart's novels and while they are all well written, compelling and interesting stories, The Iron Girl is really, really good. A combination of danger, humor and romance kept me reading until the startling and satisfying conclusion.

This latest episode in the "Jane Lawless" series is more emotional and dramatic than anything Hart has done before. Ellen Hart has mastered the intricacies of serving plot and character in equal portions. The emotions are so real you'll find yourself drawn in and living the story.

Restaurant owner, Jane Lawless is embroiled yet again, in another mystery to solve. This one hits close to home. Very, very close in fact.

Convinced by her longtime friend Cordelia Thorn to open a restaurant with a business associate, Jane meets Greta, a young woman who eerily resembles her deceased lover Christine. Greta claims to be interested in photographing the rennovations as a school project. Cordelia, however, is not convinced of Greta's true motives. Why? What about the young woman is rubbing Cordelia the wrong way?

It's been several years since Jane lost Christine. But Jane now feels she is finally ready to sort out Christine's things. While going through the boxes that had been packed away, she finds something that has her questioning just how well she knew her lover. What could Christine have been involved in? And why wouldn't she have told Jane? How could what Jane found impact the feelings she still carries for Christine?

Then there is Jane's relationship with her new lover Kenzie Mullroy, a woman she met just a short time ago. A relationship that is still growing and could be put into danger by Jane's feelings for Greta. How? Will Jane's feelings for her longlost love, surfacing again with Greta's appearance, overide her feelings for her new one? Will Kenzie even stick around to find out?

The Iron Girl is an excellent offering by an extremely talented author. Ellen Hart presents a book filled with tremendous suspense, drama and intrigue, and demanding to be read. Just when you think you have the mystery solved, the author throws in a twist that has you trying hard not to cheat and skip to the end of the book!

Now that Kenzie is in Jane Lawless's life, she is so grateful to have found love for the second time after a ten year hiatus she gets up the nerve to go through her dead lover's things in order to put Christine in the past. She is shocked to find a gun in Christine's briefcase and when a friend brings over a statue that she was to give to Jane ten years ago but forgot all about it until now, Jane realizes both things were the property of the Simoneau family.

Christine worked for Bill McBride of McBride Realty and she was selling the property of Bernadette Simoneau who moved with her son Philip into the family mansion. Not long before Christine died, the matriarch, Philip and the cook were murdered. The handy man was convicted of the crime. After visiting the black man in prison Jane believes that he is innocent; she starts asking questions in the hopes of finding the real murderers because she believes Christine would want her to do this.

The reader sees flashbacks of the last weeks of Christine's life and how she came into possession of the gun and the statue. They also read about the revelation about Christine's death and how heart wrenching it is for the two lovers to acknowledge this. In the present, Jane meets Greta who could pass for Christine's double propping pictures of Jane's new restaurant. Jane's friend believes Greta has a motive for crossing Jane's path and the reader slowly began to believe it too, but wonder why. The decade old triple homicide was constructed with several suspects who had a motive and the opportunity to kill the victims. Ellen Hart has written one of the best novels of her career

Harriet Klausner

The murder had taken place years before. Two people were brutally killed, a young boy traumatized, and the surviving family members left in their disintegrating home, backbiting and squabbling, with a line down the middle of the house to make sure neither trespassed on the other. Jane Lawless's lover, Christine, had been involved in a real estate deal that was supposed to sell that house, but Christine's cancer and the murder put the real estate deal on permanent hold. Now, though, Jane is starting to see hints of that murder everywhere.

Jane has left boxes of Christine's stuff, uninspected, but she now feels brave enough to face them. Until one of the first things she finds is a gun that matches one used in the murders. Then, a beautiful woman who looks exactly like a younger version of Christine shows up and Jane has to deal with her pain and loss all over again. Third, an old friend brings Jane a box holding a gift that, according to the friend, Christine meant for Jane to have. It's one of the pieces of art stolen from the murder site--part of the evidence the police used to convict the gardener--accused of being caught stealing.

Jane is sure the courts convicted the wrong man. Together with her friend Cordelia, and her new friend (and Christine look-alike) Greta, Jane decides to investigate.

Author Ellen Hart is a talented wordsmith and creates interesting characters. The gothic house, with its two surviving and unsavory siblings is a classic. Jane, with her love life torn between her new affection for Kenzie and her conflicted feelings toward Christine/Greta is also interesting and Cordelia is a pure scream.

I would have liked to see the mystery rely less on coincidence and luck, and more on the actual investigation. The few clues that Jane actually turns up seem to happen despite Jane's efforts rather than because of them. I was also left feeling that there was something missing at the end. THE IRON GIRL was hard to put down, had its moments of thrill and chill, and seems very authentic about the lesbian lifestyle that Jane, Christine, Cordelia, and Kenzie have adapted. This isn't a perfect mystery, but it is enjoyable.

Jane Lawless has struggled and grieved over her partner Christine's death back in 1987, a long time ago, but now she's happy with someone else and after coming back from a vacation with new partner Kenzie, she finally decides she's ready go through Christine's things. However, as she's going through Christine's briefcase, she finds a gun that shouldn't be there and now she has questions that need to be answered.

Christine was a realtor and the day before her death three members of one of her client's families had been murdered and Jane, investigator that she is, naturally wonders if there is a connection between those murders and the gun in Christine's briefcase. And as she looks into it she meets a young woman who is almost a dead ringer for Christine and now not only is her relationship with Kenzie on the line, but her life as well.

I like the way Ms. Hart weaves her tale, drawing you in page by page. I also liked Jane's somewhat eccentric, but very sharp sidekick Cordelia. She is just to die for, character wise that is. Ms. Hart has a unique talent of spicing up her clues with a few very good laughs amid the tension and she knows how to keep her readers turning the pages.

Jane Lawless has been through a lot. She lost her mother during her formative years. Then, the love of her life, Christine, dies of cancer in 1987. In 2004, when this story takes place, Jane still has all of Christine's belongings in storage. It's time for her to move on, as she has met someone new. Jane is also going to invest in a new restaurant; she meets young Greta, who is interested in this project. Jane hires Greta to photograph the demolition and construction. It helps that Greta looks a lot like Christine. Jane is thrilled with her new friend. Cordelia thinks otherwise. Yes, Greta is escaping a dead-end relationship from unstable Calvin. But, is that all there is to Greta's past? Or is there more? Read and find out.

Jane is also trying to bring closure to Christine's involvement in the Simoneau murder case. Christine was helping the Simoneaus sell their house just days before the murders, and then Christine's death. What is Christine's connection? Why the gun? Was her mysterious death just cancer spreading too quickly and too painfully? Or, was foul play involved? You'll find out in this wonderfully written mystery!

Finally, in 1987, Dexter Haynes, hired hand and law student, was found guilty of the Simoneau murders. Is he guilty? Or, the victim of a racist justice system?

You'll be introduced to a wonderful collection of colorful characters. Eccentric Cordelia is sometimes so unbelievable, but she's also very important to Jane's strength of character. The remaining Simoneaus are incredibly whacky!!! This book is both funny and touching, and will leave you wanting more Jane Lawless!!!

The subject line refers, of course, to the fact that this is the first Ellen Hart book I've read and her main character is Jane Lawless, chef, dog-lover, and amateur sleuth. If IRON GIRL is any indication of the quality of Ellen Hart's books, I will be reading them all, in short order. THE IRON GIRL was a cleverly plotted mystery (kudos to Hart for making the central crime, which occurred years before and off-stage so fascinating), but it was also much more. Hart fills her mystery with twists and turns just like others in her genre, but she also fills her mystery with intensely likable, all-too-human characters, a generous dose of pathos, and lots of humor.