Customer Reviews

Who Killed Blanche DuBois? (Claire Rawlings Mystery)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Several years ago, Carole Bugge announced to her circle of friends that she wanted to be a poet. She hadn't written anything before, to the best of our knowledge, so we who knew her just looked knowingly at each other and smiled. Meanwhile, Carole wrote her poem, submitted it somewhere -- and won a prize. Then it got published in an anthology, and then a short story got published, and then a book ("The Star of India") and then a three-book deal from Penguin. And that is when I decided that I should hate her.

I suppose I am biased, but "Who Killed Blanche DuBois?" filled all of my murder-mystery requirements. It had atmosphere, some interesting characters, and a solution which actually surprised me. There was one main character who I found acutely annoying at first, but I eventually warmed up to her. And even though I picked up on some fairly arcane clues right away, I somehow didn't add them up correctly -- but then I never dreamed the Carole Bugge I knew would become a writer, so there you are. I would definitely recommend this book to any fan of Agatha Christie, as I am, even down to the fact that everyone's reaction to tragedy seems to be to sit down and have a proper cup of tea. One big difference, however, is that Carole develops her characters with a really lyrical prose. None of that clunky Christie type-casting and cliche.

I suppose that one problem I had was that, as the former owner of the upstate house Carole uses as one of her principal settings, I have to say -- my house was never that clean.

"Who Killed Blanche DuBois?" is the first in Carole Bugge's well-written, very entertaining series. I happened to read the second book ("Who Killed Dorian Gray?") before this one, and it contained many spoilers for the first, including the murderer's identity. No problem, though: I had great fun watching for the clues and red herrings. Of course, I spotted them easily, but it would have been much more difficult had I not already known who the villain was. In any case, it's a delightful whodunit with three intelligent detectives: the thoughtful mystery editor Claire Rawlings; the alarmingly precocious 13-year-old Meredith Lawrence, whose role model is Sherlock Holmes; and the affable, attractive police detective Wallace Jackson, a widower and former schoolteacher. Running through the story as a sort of background theme is Goethe's poem (and Schubert's song) "The Erl King."

Industry insiders recognize Claire Rawlings of Ardor House Publications as one of the best mystery editors in the business. Her two biggest clients are the obnoxious Willard Hughes and southern belle Blanche DuBois. After several successful cozies, a doubting Claire agrees to allow Blanche to write a serious non-fiction book about the Ku Klux Klan.

Claire has a boy friend Robert and a semi-permanent teenage ward Meredith who fancies herself as a modern day Holmes. When Somme murders Blanche, the thirteen-year old girl begins sleuthing. As the suspects pile up, a second killing occurs. Meredith and a sexy police detective try to ferret out the culprit before Claire becomes a victim.

WHO KILLED BLANCHE DUBOIS is an entertaining amateur sleuth novel that is the first entry in what should be a long, successful series. The cleverly drawn who-done-it leaves the audience to decide who the killer is amidst a plethora of viable suspects. Meredith is an adorable genius with a teenage attitude that will have readers alternating between spanking her and hugging her. Carole Bugge demonstrates that she is a top rate story teller.

Harriet Klausner

Overall, I enjoyed reading "Who Killed Blanche DuBois?" but I felt the character of Meredith was a bit unrealistic. There were also a few other minor irritations in the book - some mis-spellings; two policemen in chapter 4 who stood "behind the docket" (look it up); and an error regarding Morgan horses - the man's name was Justin Morgan, not John, and a bit of web searching (took me all of three minutes) will show you that he did not breed the horse. The mystery itself was interesting enough to overcome these small shortcomings, and I plan to read the next in the series.

I had the pleasure this weekend of reading "Who Killed Blanhce DuBois?" the new novel by Carole Bugge. This was a novel that caught my interest from the beginning with the story of Claire Rawlings, an editor of the fictious Ardor House, and her young friend Meredith, as they try to find the killer of Mystery writer Blanche DuBois. The writing is beautiful, truly lyrical, which is so rare nowadays. But more than that, as I read the novel, put it down and did the day-to-day tasks that always interrupt, I found myself thinking about the novel and it's heroine. If this is to be a series, it could be a great one, the banter between Meredith and Claire is apppealing and very real. My only negative comment might be that I figured it out very early on, and the clues could have been hidden a little deeper. But still, as the book wound it's way to the climax, I was hanging on the edge of my seat. I reccommend you read this good book, written by Ms. Bugge, who has the talent of a great author.

I read the first 14 chapters of this book with interest. The mystery plot was slow to develop, but the character was interesting enough to keep me involved.

Then, suddenly, in Chapter 15, the point-of-view inexplicably changed from the main character to a very awkward omniscient point of view where we followed "the murderer" who, through an unbelievable set of convenient circumstances, stalked and killed another victim. At that point, I wanted to throw the book against the wall.

My final analysis -- clumsily plotted, and enough manipulative and awkward segments to totally destroy any interest I had in the book. I skipped forward to see if I had been right when I predicted the killer, and found out I was.

That isn't a good sign, either. I'm usually wrong.

Obviously, your mileage may vary.

I enjoyed this book very much. The mystery is gripping and moves at a snappy pace, though the book is mostly character-driven. Claire Rawlings is a realistic, complex heroine who is easy to relate to. Also, the depictions of New York City and the landscape of the Hudson River were both vivid and beautiful. This promises to be the beginning of a great series.

Though "The Star of India" was published first, "Blanche Dubois" is actually the first mystery novel Carole wrote, and a remarkable debut it is. Meticulously plotted and sensitively, even poetically written, it is one of a diminishing breed of whodunits that manage to be both a fair puzzle and an engaging work of fiction with memorable characters, graceful and gracious scene painting, and an engaging balance between melancholy and humor. Her vulnerable protagonist, Claire, is nicely offset by her precocious child prodigy friend (and would-be sleuth) Meredith, who you sometimes want to spank, but mostly want to hug. I predict "Blanche Dubois" will be one of the finalists for this year's Nero(Wolfe)Mystery Novel Award.

Claire Rawlings is an editor for Ardor House Publishing. Her job keeps her quite busy helping her authors with their murder plots. But when one of her top authors, Blanche DuBois is poisoned, she is surprised. Meredith Lawrence, a teenager, has recently wormed her way into Claire's life. Meredith is determined to solve the mystery. But can they do it before the killer strikes again?

I was greatly disappointed with this book. I found Meredith to be annoying, and, while the character softened by the end of the book, it wasn't enough to redeem her. The plotting is uneven at best. There are long passages where we really learn nothing new about the case but just develop the characters. While I love a book with strong characters, character development should never be at the expense of plot. Furthermore, the ending left me with a few questions, not a good thing for a mystery.

Fortunately, I have not bought any of the other books in this series. I won't be looking for further adventures because there are better books out there to read.

Witty, wry, laugh-out-loud in places--what more could a reader of mystery novels want? This one has it all--plot, characterization (and then some!) and wonderful writing. As the first of a series, it helps to be read first, also, as the second book in the series has some spoilers, just in case you mess up. But that's okay, really, as once you're into this book, you won't really care, anyway.

On the other hand, the characters are so well drawn that you'll be happy to become better acquainted with them. This first book should hold your interest quite nicely, I think. Claire Rawlings is an editor at Ardor House, and has two best-selling authors under her wing. Willard Hughes specializes in promoting himself and his mystsery novels, while the other, Blanche DuBois, practically has to be forced into promotion, for her very well-done, best-selling mysteries.

When Blanche decides to stray from her usual fiction, and write a straight-forward history of the Ku Klux Klan, Claire is astonished, both by the idea and the excellent manuscript turned in by the author. But before any decision can be made about publication, Blanche is found dead. A homicide?

Almost simultaneously, the next two most important characters enter Claire's life; the wonderful Meredith Lawrence, 13 going on 52; and the widower Police Detective Wallace Jackson. Of course, there are other characters as well, and--running through the book like an distant memory, lines from Goethe's famous poem 'Erlkönig' which was later set to music by Schubert. Fortunately, there is a translation at the beginning of the book, affording those of us not fluent in German the ability to follow the tale of the frightened child.

Meredith is, however, anything but a frightened child, and eventually finds the missing clues to help Detective Jackson solve the murders. Oh, yes, by this time there are more of them, and Claire herself is dangerously close to being a victim, too.

The plot is so complex, yet simple to understand, and the characters many and so multi-faceted in themselves, it's difficult to write a brief yet comprehensive review of this book. I'll say only that I truly enjoyed it, savoring the lyricism of the writing, and will now go back and read the second book--again. Then, on to the third, and so on. I don't think you'll regret doing the same thing.