Customer Reviews

A Little Class on Murder (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 5)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed A Little Class on Murder more than any of the other Death on Demand books, and I love them all. This one was the most enjoyable to me because Henny, Miss Dora, and Laurel are all in Annie's class together. They have all wrecked havoc in Annie's life before, but it is when these three ladies form their own manic version of the 3 Musketeers that they really shine. Being in Grad school, I enjoyed reading a mystery set at a college campus. And, as always, Annie and Max are the perfect couple. Very fun!

You have to like mysteries about the field of mysteries or else the numerous allusions to other mysteries could be annoying. You do NOT need to have read other mysteries to read this one, however. The writer uses other titles to make comparisons, generally. I found it all fascinating and am whiling away a medical leave ordering titles I find mentioned. There are some real classics, many out of print but available used, that I never would have thought to look for. Hart's allusions extend outside the mystery field to jurisprudence, biography, and journalism, but the real meat is the mystery bibliography. The actual mystery is interesting, with lots of list writing and puzzling, livened up with eccentric characters. I particularly liked a very minor character, a befuddled student in a class on Mysteries who had never read one. One puzzle--why teach a course on mysteries in a journalism department? Only vaguely explained. An earlier reviewer mentioned bad language which puzzled me. I didn't notice any.

Annie Laurance Darling, owner of the mystery book store Death on Demand, is invited to teach a class on "Three Great Ladies of Mystery" at a local college. She looks forward to the challenge until she discovers that three of her students are her mother-in-law Laurel and two of her cronies. This is only the beginning of her troubles, however, because she soon discerns serious jealousy and in-fighting among faculty members. Before it's all over, there is a suicide, a murder and a bombing. There are lots of suspects and everyone seems to have a motive, so Annie is puzzled as to who's behind all the chaos. This is one of the better books of the series and it contains a lot of humor, and an interesting resolution to the mystery.

This is one of the best Death on Demand mysteries.
One of the things that Carolyn does best is combine a little bit of humor with a little bit of mystery. She does that well in this book.

Annie is teaching a class about three great mystery writers only to have her plans upset by three ladies of mystery. One is Annie's mother in law, as always, is delightful. Slightly off kilter and yet she is on the mark with most things. The other two are fans of mysteries and known for causing problesm where they go. Very good.

Although it is usually easy to figure out who did it by the end of Carolyn Hart's books, it doesn't make it any less of an enjoyable read. THis is one of my favorite Death on Demand mysteries.

As an added bonus, you get a lot of references to other mysteries that are good reads as well.

I really enjoy Carolyn G. Hart's books and I love her characters Annie Laurance and Max Darling. A Little Class on Murder is another delightful mystery. Even though I was pretty sure of who done it before the end, I was not positive. The plot is solid and the characters are wonderful. I would definitely recommend this book.

I enjoyed the actual mystery of the book (finding out who the Deep Throat was) but the numerous allusions to other mysteries really made me stumble. I read many mysteries, but there were way too many references to things I didn't know.

Carolyn G. Hart has served up another Death on Demand mystery with A LITTLE CLASS ON MURDER. Newlyweds Annie and Max Darling go to Chastain Community College and find themselves deep in murder when all Annie wanted to do was teach a class on the three grand dames of mystery fiction.

A young reporter wants to make his big career move and an old timer has been given the chore of breathing new life into the journalism department. But the new department chair ends up dead. Who hates his changes enough to resort to murder?

Annie and Max are on the caper against obstacles as thick as the stone walls of the building.

This delight escapade is pure enjoyment for the reader.

Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS.

In response to the readers who seemed confused, puzzled, or even irate over the notion of a mystery writing class being taught in a journalism department, I can say that it may be unusual, but it's far from absurd. In fact, at the University of Oklahoma the college of Journalism and Mass Communication offers both a B.A. and an M.A. in professional writing. By "professional," they mean writing magazine articles, short stories, screenplays, and novels of commercial intent aimed at publication and not just literary self-expression. So a mystery-writing class in a journalism department? Sure thing, folks. Widen your horizons a little and be aware that somewhere in this world folks do occasionally think outside the box.

As an avid mystery and Death-On_Demand fan I can honestly say that this is classic mystery from a moder writer that does true honors to the "Grand Dames of Mystery"! The cast of characters are colorful as they are varied and Ms Hart keeps you guessing to the very last page of who the sick twisted sociopath is behind all the chaos. If you love mysteries that make you truly loath the culprit this book should be your next buy!

No one can call Ms. Hart's Death on Demand series an example of hard-boiled detectionn writing. She is very definitely in the cozy genre, but she fits very well in there. I probably enjoyed this book the most so far in this series. This is the fifth book in this series. In it Annie is teaching a class in a community college. She is teaching about the three grande dames from the Golden Age of mystery, and she really warms up to her task and to her class, even though she has three very familiar faces in it. While expounding on her three favourites (Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and Mary Roberts Rhinehart), there are some extremely volatie interactions going on between faculty members in the School of Journalism, and sure enough things start happening. Annie, along with her husband Max and her three cohorts find themselves embroiled in a murder. This book was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed watching it unfold. I especially liked the character development that occured with the regulars in this series.