Customer Reviews

Midlife Can Be Murder: A Bel Barrett Mystery

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

 

 

Hoboken, New Jersey may not be the center of the universe but there are enough activities going on to keep Bel Barrett busy twenty-four hours a day. She's a full time English professor at the local community college and is only a semester away from getting her Ph.D. In her spare moments she works on her relationship with her significant other. If that isn't enough, Bel decides to get in touch with her Jewish heritage by attending classes that will lead up to her Adult Bat Mitzvah.

In the Hebrew class is her former student Ashley who begs her to help find out whether her friend's death was an accident or a murder as she rally suspects. Unable to say no, Bel enlists the help of her friends who have worked with her on previous murder investigations. Together they launch an operation that takes a lot of energy and nearly costs Bel all that she holds dear.

The fifty something-menopausal heroine is drawn very true to life and is so noble and charming she has the audience rooting for her all the way. The secondary cast is just as well drawn as the star. The characters make MIDLIFE CAN BE MURDER feels more like a multi dimensional reading experience. Jane Isenberg has crafted a well-written mystery with enough red herrings to keep the best puzzle solver stumped.

Harriet Klausner

If you've been nervous about flying, here's what I recommend: buy a copy of Jane Isenberg's new mystery "Midlife Can be Murder," start reading when you fasten your seat belt, and look up when you come to the end. You've landed. This was the extremely pleasant way I spent my last plane trip.
As Isenberg fans already know, Bel Barrett, our sleuth, is very witty. In addition, embedded in this mystery are entertaining riffs, including one on a Biblical story I'm sure you will never see the same way again, and another on the rise and fall of the Dot Com lifestyle (you'll have to read the book to catch my pun.)
Underlying the fun and suspense in all Isenberg books is some serious social commentary. Bel's struggling students (in her other life Bel is a Professor of English at a local Community College) are always an important part of the plot, as are her adult children. I found all their adventures touching and very real.

Bel is back! In her latest adventure she's climbing the walls to try to find the killer. It was hard to picture fifty-something Bel and her cronies infiltrating the twenty-something Dot.com world, but Ms. Isenberg came up with a humorous solution.

I loved this book on many levels. On the surface it is a great comfort read full of warmth and humor. Next, it educates the reader on a variety of subjects. And finally like any good tale, there's a wonderful moral to the story.

Isenberg gets better with every book. Don't miss this one.

This is a perfect book for dot-com mystery freaks and their mothers! The blend of menopausal homor, teaching tales, jewish rites of passage and techie lore gives the reader lots to ponder and a laugh on every page!

Jane Isenberg's Bel Barrett mysteries provide what we dedicated mystery readers want: a protagonist, as real and recognizable as a good friend, who puts her extensive life experiences to good use in solving a murder; an intricate but not contrived plot; witty dialogue that moves the story and illuminates the characters; and just enough information about unfamiliar subjects to whet our interest and keep us coming back for more. In "Midlife Can Be Murder", Bel and company deliver once again. Though e-commerce may be dominated by techno-30-somethings, Bel and her friends use their hard-earned 50-something savvy to uncover greed and uncontrolled ambition as roots of murder. Along the way, Bel attempts to make up for a past wrong, balance professional obligations with personal needs, support a friend, manage menopausal symptoms, and grow spiritually--all at the same time. I found this book to be wryly humorous and often moving, as only stories grounded in reality can be. But it is also a solid, stylish and well-written mystery, one that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. I hope Ms. Isenberg has more Bel Barrett stories coming soon. Her growing number of fans will be waiting eagerly!

I always enjoy meeting up with Bel Barrett and following her through a mystery. I was intrigued by her adult bat mitzvah class but in the end it seemed to be diminished by the rest of the story.

If this wasn't the most ridiculous book I've ever read, it sure came close.

Bel's former student asks her to figure out why her co-worker was killed. Yet when Bel drags her two friends into helping her, they all decide not to tell the former student anything. Huh? They don't even know this person...why would they try to solve his murder if not for Ashley? Why would they care?

So much time was wasted on ridiculous conversation between Bel, Betty and Illuminada that it began to feel like I was reading more filler than story. I mean, a whole chapter about Illuminada's "reconcilliation" with her daughter?

It just gets worse as it goes on. Bel figures something out out of nowhere, and within a couple of days, she's got some guy flying across the country to meet with her by posing as a recruiter. If I went across the country for a job interview and the recruiter suddenly told me she wasn't really a recruiter and started asking me questions out of the blue about something I'd rather forget, I certainly wouldn't sit there and allow her to tape the conversation...I'd be on the first plane home.

But the worst part of all had to be when Bel caught the murderer...by COUGHING ON HIM?!?!? I could not believe what I was reading.

Add all this to the fact that so much of the book is a history lesson in the Jewish religion, and you'd be better off taking a nap rather than reading this one.