Customer Reviews

Missing Susan

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This was the first Sharon McCrumb I read (definitely, not the last), was given to me in a promotion set of 10 mysteries. This is the only one I recall, and with just cause. Starting from the title, this book is just the opposite of what you expect. It is fresh, with a dry humour that is so engaging. Since reading this, I am a dyed in the wool McCrumb fan, and this is one of her best!!

This is the 6th Elizabeth McPherson novels. This time, she is on a tour of England, with a motley crew, and one really aggravating heiress, Susan. Susan's uncle has paid the tour guide to bump his niece off somewhere along the trip...only one problem - he keeps missing Susan.

It is so funny, a mystery where you are rooting for the bad guy to succeed!! McCrumb has taken the typical mystery and set it on its ear!!

This sprightly mystery will be a jolt to readers only familiar with Ms. McCrumb's much acclaimed ballad series. "Missing Susan" is part Agatha Christie-spoof, part England tour, and part very sharp character study.

The star is not Elizabeth MacPherson, forensic anthropologist, but Rowan Rover, silver-tongued, down on his luck, tour guide. I was reminded of Stanley Holloway, the rascally father of Eliza in "My Fair Lady." The supporting cast of characters are lively individualists. Rowan is hired to 1) conduct a two-week Murder Mystery tour through England and 2) to eliminate one of the members of his group. Now Rowan is not normally a lawbreaker, but he has three ex-wives, a son in an expensive preparatory school and a rundown houseboat that he calls home.

Fortunately for all concerned Susan, the proposed victim, is unlikable enough that all the tour members have murderous thoughts involving the best way to rid themselves of Susan. It is a near thing whether Rowan will do the deed or will one of the tour members beat him to it. Susan is from Minneapolis. Before I read this book, I had nothing but admiration for this fine city. After hearing Susan compare everything from airports to monuments unfavorably with Minneapolis, I could cheerfully go a long time without hearing Minneapolis mentioned again. That's what Susan does to you.

The novel tidily begins and ends with a Jack the Ripper tour through Whitechapel. You may think you have everything figured out, but Ms. McCrumb has a few surprises in store for you. A good, fast enjoyable read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Sharyn McCrumb book. I've read about 10 of her books and I must say that "Missing Susan" is my favorite. It has a tongue and cheek quality and Sharyn McCrumb has a knack for making the unfortunate victim in the story totally unlikable. I also found the British Mystery Tour angle very informative and entertaining. If you like Agatha Christie you will like this book. "Paying the Piper" is also very good, as well as, "McPherson's Lament".

This book is a must read for anyone who loves light, fluffy mysteries. Sharyn McCrumb makes me acutally root for the killer. I love the tour of England as a setting and the the fact the mystery is written from the killer's point of view. I have read quite a few times and I still love it.

Sharon McCrumb has two definate sides, her fun loving side, and her more serious tone. If you are looking for a book that is funny, informative, adventurious (and know geography of England), "Missing Susan" fits the bill. Do not look to it for serious murder mystery, or heavy handed suspense--this isn't the book. I've read all of Mc Crumb's works, and this one ranks among my most favorite. It is a light read. Elaine McPherson is never to be taken very seriously, but this book is corker!

I could not stop laughing. Having traveled with many tour groups I not only recognized Susan; I recognized the other usual suspects on any tour group. I bought the book because someone told me about hearing Sharyn McCrumb describe how the book came to be after she had gone on a group tour. There was an obnoxious traveler in the group named Susan and everyone in the group started playing with the idea of how to get rid of her. When McCrumb told the group that she thought it would make a good story, the group insisted that she write it and use their real names. The only problem was how to tell Susan that she was the intended victim. However, like all self-absorbed people she assumed that the author had made up this terrible person and used her name. Whether that is a true story or not it is an interesting idea.

Every group has a Susan who drives everyone crazy and while not resorting to murder, the group would like to get rid of their Susan.

Missing Susan is not a conventional murder mystery, in which the investigator tries to nab the killer.Rather, in a refreshing turnabout, the reader follows the exploits of London crime expert and tour guide Rowan Rover, the most unlikely killer for hire imaginable. Rowan's preparing to lead a group of bibliophiles on a tour of sites connected with English mystery novels and crime scenes, when an American businessman approaches him with an offer he can't refuse. All he has to do is find a way to kill the American's niece,Susan, at some point during their tour, and make it look like an accident.

What follows is an almost farcical comedy of errors. Rowan likes to study scandalous murders, but he's never been tempted to commit one himself. Now, in desperate need of ready cash, he accepts the offer and begins plotting. From day one, Susan begins to drive her fellow tourists crazy, so annoying that Rowan begins to think killing her will be a pleasure. Easier said than done. Author McCrumb saves the best bits of the story for the final chapter, by which time your mouth is tired from all that smiling.

Five stars for the enjoyment factor of this imaginative and competently presented novel.

Sharyn McCrumb is a gifted, lyrical writer. Her novels about the South are beautifully written and convincing. But compared to the taut drama and lyricism of "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter", "Missing Susan" is a cheap cheat. It primarily consists of a long-winded recitation of an English tour guide. The characters are one-dimensional and undeveloped, and the plot, while inviting in its concept, is ignored by the author in favoring the droning monotony of describing a tour through various parts of England. After listening to four of the six tapes in the book-on-tape format, I am bored and profoundly disappointed in the lack of plot and character development. This is such a disappointment. McCrumb has shown so much promise, but has delivered a banal and meandering excuse of a story in which I cannot maintain interest. This novel provides the author a healthy tax deduction for her vacation in England. But it is at a heavy price in her reputation as a serious writer.

I heartily recommend the lyricism, the strength, and the beauty of "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter". Why this promising writer has abandoned her gift is a mystery and a profound disappointment. "Missing Susan" is a painful example of talent being cheapened. It truly is a shame.

I went on a tremendous reading spree in the last month and had to read all of Sharyn McCrumb's Elizabeth MacPherson books. After reading all of these amusing mysteries, I have to say that Missing Susan was the funniest. While some mysteries have the person dying in the first chapter and you spend the whole book trying to guess who the murderer is, Missing Susan is the absolute opposite.

...

This book has so many amusing scenes, particularly when the tour participants are participating at one of those mystery house weekends or the fact that the tour participants are more interested in shopping than seeing the historic sites. I highly recommend all of the other Elizabeth MacPherson books, but this is definitely the most amusing.

Warning; If you've never been to England,"Missing Susan" will take you there! First it will make you feel like you've been there, then you'll suddenly find yourself booking the tickets... Seriously, folks, the characters are believeable, and, for the most part, likeable. The only thing that could have made this book better, would have been to have Geoffrey Chandler along for the ride. I can just imagine the conversations that he and Rowan Rover could have...I wish Sharyn McCrumb would bring Rowan back in a future volume, I'd love to know what he is up to!

While on a recent trip to England I got to "walk" in Elizabeths' footsteps when I went shopping on Bath's famous bridge, what a thrill! I was a tour escort on that trip and learned my lesson from Rowan Rover - I gave my people loads of time to shop! I wish they would make this book into a movie, (but only if the screenplay could be written by Sharyn McCrumb herself, it's too good a story for a hack writer to get a hold of) Maybe it could star Ian McShane the tour guide from "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium..."