Customer Reviews

The Mezzo Wore Mink

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

 

 

This is absolutely one of the funniest mystery series I've ever read. Mark Schweizer has a winner here and I hope there are many more to come in this series. If you have not read the series, start with the first one (The Alto Wore Tweed).

Best book of the series. Have given "The Alto Wore Tweed" as a gift to many friends - highly recommend the series. Schweizer has a style all to his own. It will stay that way since nobody else would want it!

I've read most of Mark Schweitzer's Liturgical Mystery series...where else can you get a genuine mystery story and laugh you head off at the same time...these books aren't "rocket science" by any means but they are terribly entertaining.

Mark Schweizer's Liturgical Mysteries are very good mysteries (how else could they be when "channeling" Raymond Chandler?), but it is the life of, and different personalities you meet, when working as a church organist and choir director (and ones who serve in the Episcopal church will get ALL the inside jokes!) that had me laughing so hard I nearly fell off the organ bench! Think all the situations at St Barnabas are fictitious? Think again - I've lived many of them. The entire series is hilarious. Once you read the first one it is like eating popcorn - you just can't stop. And they are actually pretty inter-denominational: a church musician's lot is not always a happy one!

So, now Hayden has purchased Raymond Chandler's fedora and had it sized to fit him. Readers of this series just know where THAT's going to go... I hit the first laugh-out-loud part of this book only a few pages in. If you're a man, and you're trying to get a loan, you should buy this book just for the 'helpful hint' in the first chapter. If you're not a man, you should buy this book so you can laugh your head off in the first chapter.

No spoilers, but here's a few tidbits to whet your appetite:

1. Minques

2. A dog that's a cross between a Rottweiler and a Daschund (looks like a Rottweiler, with the height of a Doxie -a Rott-weiner)

3. The aforementioned 'helpful hint' for a man trying to get a loan

4. A new interim priest whose wife has a hairdo that looks like Moe's (of Three Stooges fame). PLUS the author used a word to describe the priest that stumped the Kindle's dictionary!

I personally still think book #5 is my favorite, but this (book #6) is not far behind. In case you haven't already guessed - I'd highly recommend this book!

Note on Kindle formatting: Good, but not quite as good as the prior books. Most issues were just with hard returns in the middle of a sentence (just a couple times) and indented 2nd lines of paragraphs (also just a couple of instances) and none interfered with reading.

and the fourth is on its way and I can't wait. These are sheer delights. Being an organist, I can identify strongly with some of the situations, howl at others and just chuckle through the rest!

Took the summer off from my organist duties to do so heavy studies and reading but had to have this series by the stack of books for relief and soul food. The characters are great, and I would suggest if you haven't read any, to order two, because you will want more after reading your first.

The style reminds me of another favorite author, Lillian Jackson Braun. You will fall in love with the geography, learn to walk the Main Street, and wonder why so many people get killed associated with St Barnabas Episcopal Church.

The more I read Mark Schweizer's books, the more I wish they would come along faster. His characters are always vivid and highly individualized, his plots are intriguing, the story-within-a-story is a hoot, and his writing style is lively and EXTREMELY witty. What more can a reader ask?

If you adore both Robert Rankin (e.g., The Brentford Triangle (Brentford Trilogy) and Julia Spencer-Fleming (e.g. A Fountain Filled With Blood (A Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery), you will undoubtedly love Mark Schweizer's entire oeuvre.

These hilarious spoofs just keep getting better. Perhaps the Episcopal church really should take note of "The Living Gobbler" - couldn't be any more bizarre than some of the other things they do now days! (Though nothing tops the Christmas service in The Alto Wore Tweed) Look for a long awaited and special event in this one.

These great books are actually getting better. What a delightful series of mysteries. We love every one.