Series: Miss Julia | Publication Date: March 25, 2008
The irresistible, indefatigable Miss Julia is back, turning the tables on a thief who chose the wrong belle to burgle
Having earned a devoted following for her rollicking antics and unshakable poise, Miss Julia's eighth outing begins with an unfortunate discovery. Her cherished engagement ring-an exact replica of Princess Di's-turns up missing after a party, making her the latest target of a Florida- based gang who, according to Sergeant Coleman Bates, has been denuding Dixie of its jewelry. Incensed, Miss Julia packs Little Lloyd into the car and heads south to claim what is rightfully hers-and to show the feds that there's more than one way to do reconnaissance: selling the Good Book!
Ann is the mother of two daughters and one son, and the grandmother of four grandsons (including twin boys) and two granddaughters, both of whom are her namesakes. When her children were in college, she decided to complete her own education, enrolling in the University of North Carolina at Asheville where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Literature. Reluctant to return to an empty nest, she continued her education by enrolling in the English Department of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned both the Master's and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Afterwards, she taught Literature and the Humanities at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
Ann's writing career began in the early eighties when two mysteries were published as original paperbacks: THE MURDER CURE and THE MURDER STROKE. A few years later, her first hardcover book was published: THE PILGRIMAGE, an adventure story set in the nineteenth century. All three books are now out of print, but occasionally a used copy of THE PILGRIMAGE appears on Amazon.com for sale.
The publication of the first Miss Julia book, MISS JULIA SPEAKS HER MIND in 1999, set Ann on a full-time writing career. This book went through six reprintings in less than a year, and was ranked #9 on the Independent Booksellers' seventy-six most highly recommended books for 1999. In addition, the book was named to the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers list. The paperback edition of the same book was listed in The Best Books of the First Five Years by BookSense, as one of the titles independent booksellers most enjoyed handselling. The book was also published by Readers Digest Condensed Books, appearing in twelve foreign languages.
MISS JULIA TAKES OVER was one of seven nominees for the Book of the Year Award (2001) by the Southeastern Booksellers Association.
All of the books in the series are available on audiotape and in large-print editions, and are also available through The Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club. All of the books, except the newest one each year, can be found in paperback editions.
MISS JULIA THROWS A WEDDING, MISS JULIA HITS THE ROAD, MISS JULIA MEETS HER MATCH, and MISS JULIA'S SCHOOL OF BEAUTY have all appeared on the New York Times Extended Bestseller List.
All of the books in the series will be published in German, Japanese, and Croatian editions, as well as on audiotape (in English) and in large print editions.
Inspiration for the escapades of Ann's much-loved character, Miss Julia, comes in all manner of ways -- a chance remark by a friend or family member, an incident she happens to see, in a dream, or by being reminded of something in her past experiences. It is always deeply satisfying to her when scenes in the book she is working on suddenly seem to fit together to make a good story. She does not outline or make detailed plans before starting a story. She does, however, have a general plot in mind before beginning to write, but this usually entails only the conflict and the final resolution, with few ideas of how they will be worked out. So, with just the beginning and the end of a book decided on, Ann relies on the characters themselves to fill in the middle with first one subplot after another. This, she says, is the joy of writing -- when a character suddenly does or says something unexpectedly, leading her to funny and surprising 'mini-scenes' that seem to delight readers.
Ann was once asked by an interviewer how she knew when something she'd written was good. She replied, "I know it's good when I fall off my chair laughing." From that response, we can be sure that she enjoys writing about her characters as much as we enjoy reading about them.
I have faithfully read every book in the Miss Julia series and have truly enjoyed them all -- until now. While not bad, this book doesn't live up to the previous ones. Miss Julia has always been eccentric (which is most of her charm), but this time she was just acting stupid. She often has me chuckling, but not so much this time. As a particular example, there was a long section about shopping at Target where she spent a lot of the time slamming anyone who shops there as tacky and lumps people who buy crop pants as trashy. While it could have been humorous, there was a sharpness to the dialogue that made it feel down-right mean.
The premise of the story was so totally unrealistic (Miss Julia chasing a major ring of jewelry thieves) that it made the book a whole lot less enjoyable. Also, the majority of the characters that typically surround her are nowhere to be found and the newly introduced character, Mr. Tuttle is just annoying thoughout the first half of the book (spends all of it in a drunken stupor).
While I will read the next book in the series when I comes out, this one just plain misses the mark. Miss Julia needs to be back in her own environment where she can play off the other characters and have us laughing again.
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Miss Julia's jewelry is stolen while Sam (her husband) is away in Russia. Following a dubious-sounding lead by a local sheriff, she withdraws Lloyd from school and drives to Florida where she hires a private investigator to help her locate the thieves. Unfortunately, the PI is an alcoholic, and is more than Miss Julia can handle so she sends for acquaintance Etta Mae Wiggins to assist her. Together the four team up to find Miss Julia's property.
This was a light, entertaining audio. The plot was a little more fantastic than normal... (It reminded me of a Lucille Ball episode). Thankfully there was no Sam in this one. Sam's not a bad character, but he cramps Miss Julia's style. I liked Etta Mae, and Lloyd.... I was disappointed to see less of Lillian. I was lukewarm about Mr. Tuttle. I was a bit fed up with his alcoholism towards the end. Plus, he was so under-developed as a character, we never really understood why he drank, or what his real trouble was. 4 stars. Light amusing non-serious stuff.
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From the prolific pen of Ann B. Ross comes the best Miss Julia book so far. The story line is consistantly compelling and the characters, most of whom we have met and loved before, jump off the pages and into our hearts. Little Lloyd has become "Lloyd" and is cuter and more clever than ever and Etta Mae is ever more endearing. When the last page of this one is read, you are left wanting more! Please, Ms. Ross, hurry with the next one!!
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