Oldest Sin (Sophie Greenway Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Ellen Hart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 1996 | Series: Sophie Greenway Mystery

SUITE DEATH
Elegant Maxfield Plaza Hotel, in downtown St. Paul, is packed to the rafters with the power brokers of the charismatic Church of the Firstborn--and a national convention of the Daughters of Sisyphus.
Between the two gatherings, five old college roommates are reunited: food critic Sophie Greenway, now owner of the hotel; Adelle, who married into the founding family of the Firstborns; Lavinia, mastermind of the Daughters; and Bunny and Cindy, Lavinia's top aides. But when a murderer terminates one of the gang, Sophie senses that not everyone is devastated by the loss.
As Sophie delicately probes the private affairs of her hotel's star guests, she recalls another death--of a young woman who had been the group's sixth roommate. The buried secrets of that long-ago death are exhumed as a clandestine killer once again commits the oldest sin. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This third mystery featuring food critic Sophie Greenway is disappointing after stronger titles like This Little Piggy Went to Murder. Although both the amusing opening poem and the closing recipes point to gluttony as the oldest sin, the focus is really on the power-hungry Church of the Firstborn. Maybe Hart is too close to her subject (her dedication is in part for "all those long-ago friends who survived their membership in the Worldwide Church of God"), but she loses track of the requirements of the genre. The plot is convoluted, the characters hastily sketched and the solution to the "mystery" is unfortunately obvious early on. Hart has done, and no doubt will do, better.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

Ellen Hart's food critic Sophie Greenway is a kick. I love mysteries and I love to cook. Thank God this gifted author had the sense to incorporate two fun themes. Anybody who enjoys Diane Mott Davidson's mysteries will love Ellen Hart and her delicious heroine.

--Nanci Andersen

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (October 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345402022
• ISBN-13: 978-0345402028
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,136,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ellen Hart is the author of twenty-five crime novels in two different series.?? She is a five-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, a three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Best Popular Fiction, a three-time winner of the Golden Crown Literary Award, a recipient of the Alice B Medal, and was made an official GLBT Literary Saint at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans in 2005. ?? Entertainment Weekly??named her one of the "101 Movers and Shakers in the Gay Entertainment Industry." For the past twelve years, Ellen has taught "An Introduction to Writing the Modern Mystery" through the The Loft Literary Center, the largest independent writing community in the nation. Ellen's newest Sophie Greenway mystery is No Reservations Required, (Ballantine, June 2005). The Mirror and the Mask, the seventeenth Jane Lawless mystery, was released by St. Martin's/Minotaur in November 2009.?? Ellen lives in Minneapolis with her partner of 32 years.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Best for fans of the Sophie Greenway series., October 11, 2004

By 

curvynovelsdotinfo "[e-mail]" (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oldest Sin (Sophie Greenway Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Heroine: plump/voluptuous

Sophie Greenway has fought hard to put her past as the wife of a strict religious leader behind her, painful though it was to lose custody of her young son in the process. So she is more than a little disturbed when she finds that the family hotel is now hosting a convention of her former denomination, the Church of the Firstborn. But she welcomes contact with some of her old college roommates, other girls who had been sequestered in the campus' fat farm dorm. Sadly, though, not all of her chums are present, as one passed away during their time at Purdis Bible College.

But Sophie's reunion is marred by murder, and the heinous crime throws the death of their classmate many years before in a new light. Suddenly there is a conspiracy afoot, and Sophie no longer knows who she can trust. One of the women she long counted as a friend may well indeed be a killer, and Sophie herself may be the next victim.

What worked for me:

I felt the mystery was the best part of this book, for despite having a fairly transparent opening it was difficult to be sure who the killer was.

   

         Size-wise Sophie was voluptuous as a girl.

What didn't work for me:

The writing was uneven, breezing along in some spots and lurching through others. And for some readers it might feel a bit soap-boxy, but the message resonated with me, both on the issue of big girls and oppressive religions.

Overall:

Worth the read for die-hard fans of the Sophie Greenway series.

Warning: there is some coarse language in these books, and discussions as well as religious insights that might offend some people.

If you liked "The Oldest Sin" you might also enjoy the Tory Bauer mystery series, the Odelia Grey mystery series, the Southern Sisters mystery series, the Josephine Fuller mystery series, "Death by Dessert", "Lady Blue", "Teacher's Pet", or "Love by the Pound".