Out of Hormone's Way: A Bel Barrett Mystery (Bel Barrett Mysteries (Avon Books)) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jane Isenberg (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bel Barrett Mysteries (Avon Books) | Publication Date: September 3, 2002

A River of Woe

Maybe it was a case of menopausal madness -- or the blatant bribe of a pound bag of M&Ms -- but fifty-something Jersey City community college prof Bel Barrett found herself agreeing to head up the Urban Kayaking Club. Now she's dragging her tush down to the banks of the Hackensack River early every Saturday morning when she could be doing something constructive ... like sleeping. But murder puts a damper on her "natural" enthusiasm when the battered corpse of Belinda Judd -- who didn't show up at their previous outing -- is discovered a day later. The cops' prime suspect is club president Jason, who blatantly lied about seeing the dead girl. Jason needs Bel's help, but it's not for this smarmy college Casanova that she's determined to get justice. It's for sweet, shy Belinda, who didn't have an enemy in the world ... except for the creep who killed her, and who is now looking to sink Bel as well.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A trio of menopausal women trade quips and investigate a murder in Isenberg's (Midlife Can Be Murder, etc.) chatty cozy starring 50-something college professor Bell Barrett. Things become decidedly unpleasant at River Edge Community College when one of Bel's students, the dyslexic Belinda Judd, disappears following an outing with the Urban Kayaking Club and turns up dead a week later. The police suspect Jason Carillo, a club member on whom Belinda had a crush. Aware of Bel's penchant for "figuring stuff like this out," Jason appeals to her for help, and Bel, believing in his innocence, once again enlists her cohorts Betty and Illuminada, a private investigator, to find the real culprit. Sol, her always supportive companion, is on hand, as is her mother, who lives nearby. In the midst of the investigation, Illuminada finds she has a lump in her breast, and her girlfriends rally round throughout the scare. Meanwhile, local politics conflict with environmental concerns, setting the community on edge. Bel's sleuthing is frequently interrupted by personal concerns, but seeing her deal with them is nearly as compelling as watching her unravel the mystery. References to the World Trade Center ground the story on the Jersey side of the Hudson, and Bel's enduring friendship with Betty and Illuminada flesh out an otherwise thin mystery. (Sept. 3)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Bel Barrett is distinguished even among a crop of increasingly diverse fictional detectives." (New York Times )

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Avon (September 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380818876
• ISBN-13: 978-0380818877
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,965,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in Passaic, New Jersey, married, moved to Connecticut, and, in 1962 began a teaching career that lasted forty years. The first seven were the hardest and moved me to write a memoir about my experiences teaching high school English in New Haven. Titled GOING BY THE BOOK, it won the James N. Britten Award for Inquiry in English Language Arts from the National Council of Teachers of English in 1996. My next thirty-three years teaching community college students in Connecticut and then New Jersey and my first hot flash drove me to write THE "M" WORD. A comic mystery, it features a menopausal community college English prof as amateur sleuth and is the first of eight novels and a shorter anthologized work that make up The Bel Barrett Mystery Series. HOT WIRED, the last novel in the series was published in 2005 by which time I had retired from teaching and moved to the Puget Sound area. I looked to my new surroundings for inspiration and soon began work on a historical mystery set in Seattle's Jewish community during the Gold Rush and in 1965.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful Bel Barrett mystery, September 7, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Out of Hormone's Way: A Bel Barrett Mystery (Bel Barrett Mysteries (Avon Books)) (Mass Market Paperback)

Life gets really interesting following menopause, as Bel Barrett will tell anyone foolishly enough willing to listen to her. She's a fully tenured English professor at River Edge Community College while gaining a reputation in her area of New Jersey of solving any homicide that comes her way.

This semester is surprising to Bel as she takes on the leadership of the newly formed Kayak club when the founder had a family emergency. One of the members of the group is Belinda Judd who is also in Bel's English class. Bel has a fondness for her because she has dyslexia but is trying hard to learn even though the college has nobody on staff that is trained to help students with learning disabilities. When Belinda's body is found battered and beaten, Bel is determined to find out who the perpetrator is. She comes up with six viable suspects, all of whom have excellent motives.

A Bel Barrett mystery is a real treat because the protagonist is always involved in something most people wouldn't try. Jane Isenberg is a talented writer who always uses humor to defuse the tension of the taut story line. The problems Bel and her friends have to deal with on a daily bases are realistically portrayed and are ones the audience can identify with while appreciating OUT OF HORMONE'S WAY.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Terrific Read, An Engaging Sleuth!, December 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Out of Hormone's Way: A Bel Barrett Mystery (Bel Barrett Mysteries (Avon Books)) (Mass Market Paperback)

Jane Isenberg's protagonist, Bel Barrett, faces whatever life throws at her with a wry quip, a desire to make things better for everybody, and a loyal duo of equally savvy,similarly determined buddies. Those of us who have become fans through Isenberg's earlier books eagerly recognize facets of our mid-life selves,even though most of us don't deal with murder among our acquaintances. In "Out of Hormone's Way," Bel is at her engaging, menopausal best, using experience, logic and empathy to find out who killed a young member of the Urban Kayaking Club--which Bel doesn't really want to be leading. Isenberg vividly creates the haunting and intriguing atmosphere of the New Jersey watermeadows while tracking down the killer of a hard working, enthusiastic student. The plot is taut, and the characters are both realistic and involving. Environmental and political issues are up-to-the minute, reflecting life as it is today. Both Bel and Isenberg get better with each book in this lively, well-written series. Keep 'em coming, please!

5.0 out of 5 stars extracurricular with Bel Barrett, September 28, 2005

By 

Margaret L. Lemberg "so many books, so little... (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Out of Hormone's Way: A Bel Barrett Mystery (Bel Barrett Mysteries (Avon Books)) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of my favorite books about Bel Barrett, maybe because it seems the most integrated and focused. I enjoyed meeting her family and friends again. I also appreciated the author's note acknowledging the place that the Twin Towers had in the lives of people in New Jersey before 9/11.