Murder by the Book (Harlequin Intrigue, No 198) [Paperback]

Margaret St. George (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Harlequin (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373221983
• ISBN-13: 978-0373221981
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,069,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Romance and Suspense Keep You Guessing Till the Very End, April 22, 2010

By 

Kelly Irish (PDX, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder by the Book (Harlequin Intrigue, No 198) (Paperback)

Morgan's Manor is located on a Colorado mountain top, built in the 1920's with stone from Germany, it resembled Dracula's Castle. This was the home of famed mystery writer Tillis Morgan.

Tillis has gathered six of her favorite enemies to join her in a weekend retreat at the Manor. Among them were other writers, an agent, a publisher, her ex-husband and niece.

Meg Sandler had no idea what to expect when she accepted an invitation to spend the weekend at her aunt's house. And she certainly hadn't expected to see her former flame, Steven Caldwell, all cozy with her replacement. Little did she know that Steven had come to the Manor hoping to win Meg back...

The first night, Aunt Tilly makes strange dinner conversation when she announces that everyone assembled has reason to want her dead. When the lights start to flicker, the servant comes to announce that they are snowed in. The thought of not being able to leave the Manor gives everyone a bit of a panic.

What unfolds next is a classic locked-door murder mystery with six suspects. Meg and Steven find themselves working together to figure out who the murderer is and old feelings arise between them. Both want to be together again, but will Meg be able to slay a green eyed monster by the name of jealousy?

This Harlequin Intrigue novel has many plot twists and will keep you guessing until the very end. I loved it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, with a good balance of mystery and romance, April 4, 2006

By 

Gemma "bookworm" (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder by the Book (Harlequin Intrigue, No 198) (Paperback)

From the back cover:

The house stood alone in the storm. Outside, the wind howled and snow fell, drifting into piles that almost reached the eaves. Inside, lights flickered in the drawing room of the brooding old mansion. Seven people were stranded there, and before the night was over, one of them would be dead...

Meg Sandler knew her aunt was a playful prankster, but this time the joke had gone too far. As the new mistress of Morgan's Manor, Meg was trapped among a macabre gathering of Aunt Tilly's friends--and enemies--including Steven Caldwell, a man Meg had once been able to love, but now was unable to trust.

Then the killer struck in a locked room in a snow-bound house, and none of them was safe. The six survivors eyed each other anxiously--and wondered who would be next.

And my review:

I'm not usually a fan of Harlequin's Intrigue line, but this book was very enjoyable. Written by Margaret St. George, also known as Maggie Osbourne, this book had a very good balance of romance and mystery, which is something that many writers fail to manage. I never felt that either storyline was sacrificed for the other. The mystery was very good, and the conflict in the romance was also very believable.

The fact that the heroine was a mystery writer also made the story more interesting. It provided one of those "mirror within a mirror" looks into the world of mystery writing, kind of like watching a movie that's about people who make movies!

From reading the back cover description, I thought that this book might be a knock-off of Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" (which I highly recommend, by the way), but it wasn't. There were enough plot twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. I can usually see those coming from a mile away, but that didn't happen here. Yes, the obvious villians were villians...and yet that wasn't the whole story. You'll have to read the book to see what I mean.

While this wasn't a keeper or a book that made me want to rush out and buy more works by this author, it was also worth the read, and I do recommend it.