Customer Reviews

Miss Julia Strikes Back

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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!!

Miss Julia Springer Murdoch is a feisty senior citizen who lives in the mountain town of Abbotsville, North Carolina. When she discovers that valuable jewelry has been stolen from her home -- and from at least one other woman in town -- she reports the theft. The best the local police can do is to say that a professional ring of jewelry thieves appears to be operating throughout the South, with a possible headquarters in Palm Beach, Florida. That's all the information Miss Julia needs. Before you know it, she's driving south with her young charge, Lloyd, in search of the thieves and with the hopes of enlisting the services of a Mr. Frank Tuttle as a private investigator. As so often happens, the task proves not to be as easy or straightforward as Julia initially thought; and before too long, she asks another NC resident, Etta Mae Wiggins, to fly down and help her. Can the three of them put Mr. Tuttle on the right track? Can the visitors get the jewelry back before the thieves have a chance to sell it? What's all this talk about federal agents being on the case? Can Miss Julia actually outwit professional criminals and avoid possible arrest herself?

While fans of this series will enjoy this episode immensely, newcomers to the scene will be at a slight disadvantage, not knowing (a) the relationships of the main characters, and (b) how Miss Julia can afford to spend so much money at the drop of a hat. But since the story is told from Miss Julia's point of view, she's not apt to explain everything and offer more than crytic offhand remarks about the past. Newbies will just have to go back and read the rest of her adventures. Here the pages turn quickly, though, as readers continue to marvel -- and laugh -- at Miss Julia's thought-process and detective tactics. A fun weekend read.

When Miss Julia's husband, Sam, and her friend Hazel Marie both go on a trip at the same time, Miss Julia feels lonely. She has a party for 25 of her dearest friends, and she is shocked to find that during the party several of her best pieces of jewelry have disappeared. She is especially upset to find that her wedding and engagement rings are missing. Never one to sit back and be passive, Miss Julia decides to take matters into her own hands and try to find the thieves who have taken her jewelry. She finds out that Palm Beach Florida is the center of the jewelry theft ring and she sets out with Lloyd and Etta Mae Wiggins to find the perpetrators. She is in search of Mr. Tuttle, a private investigator, but she is not pleased at what she finds when she meets him. This is another enjoyable book chronicling the adventures of the prim Presbyterian. Author Ann B. Ross is able to laugh at her own plot when she has her characters remark at how amazing it is when all the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place. It's all in good fun and that's what this series is all about.

This was the Miss Julia that we all know and love! In the book just before this one, there was too much retelling of the story line from previous books. In this one, though, it was all new and all fun. Looking forward to the next one!

Very good book. Miss Julia follows her instincts and takes off to Florida after her missing jewelry. As usual she happens on to some strange and even disreputable people, but gets the job done and gets home before Sam gets back from a trip. Hilarious and fun.

I have enjoyed all the Miss Julia books so far but this was the worst book I have ever read,I kept reading thinking it would get better but this one was thrown together, sorry, do not waste your time.

I have listened to all the Miss Julia audio books, and I'm about to buy "Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle". I love her books because they are entertaining and funny. I especially love Cynthia Darlow as narrator. I won't buy a tape unless she reads it. She makes it come alive!

I can't imagine what Ms. Ross was thinking when she wrote this book. The plot is absurd and most of Miss Julia's actions were completely out of character. Why would anyone, especially prim, proper, and eccentric Miss Julia, want to hire a third stage alcoholic whom she first meets passed out on the barroom floor? Why would Miss Julia, who is so wonderfully careful and concerned about Little Lloyd's proper upbringing, take him into a seedy bar to see and hear such things as drunks,upright or on the floorr passed out, profanity, and a cage and pole where women dance? True, she probably didn't know what that was for, but nonetheless, it is out of charachter for her to expose little Lloyd to such decadent people and situations.
In other books, Miss Julia was willing to do things that she would not normally do, such as get herself into a high speed chase on a race track with criminals; and the time she climbed up on the courthouse to steal a statue (I thought that one was a little far-stretched too, but enjoyed it anyway). But here in Miss Julia strikes back, she is getting involved with, and exposing little Lloyed to people, places, and things, that no parent, or grandparent, would ever want their children to be exposed to.
I am wondering if Ms. Ross thought that a 3rd stage alcoholic character, and all his pathetic antics would be amusing to her faithful readers? I love the Miss Julia Series and have passed it on to many friends and family members. I will make a concerted effort to disuade any of them from reading Miss Julia Strikes Back.
I sincerely hope there will not be any repeat of such story lines in the future. Keep it amusing Ms. Ross, not pathetic.