Customer Reviews

The Mirror and the Mask (Jane Lawless Mysteries)

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With this, the 17th in Ellen Hart's highly successful Jane Lawless mystery series, we first meet 13-year-old Annie Andrews who lives in Traverse City, Michigan with her resort manager mom. Annie was happy, loved her school, and thought she and her mom were all that was needed after Annie's dad died. Apparently, mom didn't feel quite the same way because she's been corresponding with Johnny Archer, a prisoner who has just been released and is about to knock on their apartment door.

Flash forward to the present where we find our heroine/sleuth Jane in one of her Minneapolis restaurants, the Xanadu Club, where a pipe had burst causing a minor but nonetheless wet flood. Further, she's on the brink of 45 and there had been "a messy romantic breakup last November that had left her feeling uncharacteristically confused, sluggish, and depressed." Need we mention that she put opening another restaurant on hold due to the current economy?

Jane really doesn't need any more challenges but then in walks a full grown Annie Andrews looking for work, she was "tall, blond, and fashion model pretty." Jane puts Annie to work and soon agrees to help Annie find her stepfather, yep, the same Johnny Archer. Annie hasn't seen him since her mom's funeral some 12 years before.

For help in tracking down Archer Jane had turned to ex-cop Nolan which caused her overly dramatic best friend, Cordelia, to have a hissy fit. (Hart wisely often uses Cordelia for comic relief.) Nonetheless, it's not long before a hunt for a person turns into a murder.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

In Minneapolis, restaurateur Jane Lawless, owner of the Lyme House restaurant and the Xanadu Club, delays her plans for opening a third establishment due to the economy. Instead she accepts a job as a professional private investor working for her friend and sleuth A.J. Nolan. She also hires bartender Annie Archer to work at her Xanadu Club.

Annie explains to her new boss that she left Steamboat Springs, Colorado in search of her stepfather who vanished soon after her mom died in 1990 in Traverse City, Michigan. She asks Jane to find him, which Jane agrees to do, but becomes a tad upset to realize her client-employee omitted key facts and she wonders why. Meanwhile, Northland Realty VP Susan Bowman is murdered at the home she shares with her spouse Jack and her two children medical school student Curt and high school senior Sunny. As Jane digs, she increasingly fears for Annie's life and anyone in her sphere especially Curt because she connects the two points Annie and Susan.

With Cordelia Thorn on a semi hiatus re her niece Hattie, Jane goes it alone as she investigates the almost two-decade old cold case of the disappearing stepfather. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Annie meets Jane while the two prime romantic relationships, Annie with Jane and Annie with Curt complicate a relatively simple plot. Although the prime investigation is somewhat limited, fans will enjoy the interactions between a strong cast who make for a fun Minneapolis mystery.

Harriet Klausner

This is the first book I've read by Ellen Hart. I heard her interviewed on a radio show, and she read an excerpt from this book. I was impressed so I got the book.

I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I liked it more than I thought I would. Unfortunately, there are many lesbian-themed books that simply are not very well crafted. Ellen Hart is an excellent writer. She's particularly good at story telling, dialogue, and characterization.

This one is definitely a page turner and had several surprises. The only thing that put me off was Jane's comic sidekick, Cordelia. The tone dramatically changes when Cordelia's in the picture, and sometimes it's jarring. Still, this is an excellent mystery, and one I highly recommend, especially to those who think Sarah Waters is the only lesbian who can write.

In this newest Jane Lawless mystery, Jane is now officially a part-time private investigator who is hired by Annie Archer, her new girlfriend, to search for Annie's stepfather. According to Annie, all is not perfect with his new family and his supposedly love-less marriage. Then his wife is murdered, and it could be anyone, but Annie's stepfather is the main suspect. Hart never goes from A to B in her mysteries. We are treated to several subplots and multiple threads where anyone could be the murderer, and Annie's history, as well as her stepfather's, is meticulously exposed with many surprises. In the end what we get is a very satisfying murder tale and an unresolved thread dangling in front of us so we keep begging for more.

This review first appeared in Curve Magazine. www.curvemag.com

I've enjoyed all of Hart's books, but this one is a standout. Jane
is feeling down because of a romantic breakup. When a pipe
bursts in a storage room at one of her restaurants and a woman walks in looking
for work, Jane hires her to help clean up the mess. Turns out, the woman has come
to town looking for her father. Jane offers to help and ultimately does find the
father--with her outrageous friend, Cordelia Thorn's help. And then, as in all
good mysteries, all hell breaks loose. Hart is a master of characterization and plot,
at bringing them together into an emotionally satisfying ending. I think this one
is perhaps the best in the series. In any case, Hart just seems to be getting better
and better. She deserves much more attention than she generally receives.

Ellen Hart's Jane Lawless series has always been long on plot, adequate on dialogue and weak on character development. "The Mirror and the Mask" adds the complexity of relationships that has been missing from Hart's earlier works. Annie's angst over Curt and Jane, as well as Radley (Octavia's soon-to-be-ex)'s struggle over doing what's right for Hattie add a human element that's all too often been missing or caricatured in Hart's work. Brava! for taking the Lawless series to a new height.

The heroine of the series, Jane, plays Alistair Cooke, introducing the mystery. Thereafter she does a few walk ons and shows up for the climax.

The lesbian love interest never cooks.

The mystery itself seems like it needs a couple more hours in the oven.

There is a joyful reunion at the end, apropos of nothing. Hey, we need a little heartrending. OK, throw in a scene. Who cares if it's unrelated?

None of the parts work--though they could have. The restaurants could have been interesting. Cordelia might have been developed (though the cat on the chandelier smacks of overdoing). Hattie sounded fun.

The whole book gives the impression it was time to churn out another one in the series (it is the 17th). This was the first one I've read. I think the run is over and it's time for the final curtain.

Not for every reader but fun escape ... always look forward to Ms. Hart's books. Her characters are so vivid and real you think they might live in your neighborhood