A Playdate With Death (Mommy-track) [Mass Market Paperback]

Ayelet Waldman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mommy-track | Publication Date: August 1, 2006

Public defender turned stay-at-home mom Juliet Applebaum is back in top form, investigating the mysterious death of her personal trainer...in-between taming tantrums, planning playdates, and playing dress-up with her two rowdy kids.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Juliet Applebaum, lawyer turned full-time mother, seems to have a talent for encountering murder. In her third case, she arrives at the gym for a session with her personal trainer only to find that he is dead. Ever ambivalent about her decision to stop working outside the home, she agrees to investigate when the police write the death off as a suicide. The victim's history of drug abuse, his fiancee's fall off the wagon, and the complex web of relationships in his family provide a multitude of possibilities, but Juliet's search for clues quickly opens a Pandora's box that puts her and her family in danger. Waldman's deft portrayal of Los Angeles's upper crust and of the dilemma facing women who want it all will make it possible for readers to forgive a rather flimsy plot. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Smoothly paced and smartly told. -- New York Times

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425191044
• ISBN-13: 978-0425191040
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,321,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A "cozy" mystery -- Hollywood style!, September 12, 2002

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Playdate with Death (Mommy-Track Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Waldman is maturing as an author. This book was a fast read, with a clever plot and mostly interesting characters. Unfortunately, one of the most interesting characters was the victim -- the heroine's personal trainer at the gym.

Juliet Applebaum, the heroine, is a Jewish version of Valerie Wolzien's WASP-y suburban heroine, Susan Henshaw. Both characters build their lives around home and family and are defined more by their roles than their three-dimensional personalities. However, Wolzien's characters are a little more appealing and the heroine a little more three-dimensional.

Here, the Hollywood setting recedes as Juliet gets embroiled in the victim's dysfunctional family -- or families. We learn a lot about human genetics along the way.

With Juliet emerging as a strong heroine, her screenwriting husband becomes a shadowy figure. The children are...well, typical screaming children.

This series isn't as deep as, say, the series by Nevada Barr or Marcia Muller. But I find myself waiting for the next book and enjoying an evening or two thoroughly immersed in what's happening.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A so-so mystery that lacks the wit of its predecessors., June 25, 2002

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Playdate with Death (Mommy-Track Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Ayelet Waldman had a great idea when she came up with the idea for the "Mommy-Track" mysteries. The main character in this series is Juliet Applebaum, an attorney who has decided to be a stay-at-home mom. Between wiping up the assorted messes that her two toddlers are constantly making, ferrying her kids to school and playdates, and tending to her other assorted "mommy duties," Juliet solves murders. What has made this series enjoyable thus far is that Juliet is usually witty and self-deprecating and the mysteries have been fun.

Unfortunately, "A Playdate with Death," as brief as it is (a bit over 200 pages and undersized ones at that), is a chore to read. Gone is the humorous and easy-to-take Juliet, whose wisecracks are not particularly funny in this novel. Waldman has churned out a formulaic and labored mystery about the death of Juliet's personal trainer, Bobby Katz. Bobby appears to have shot himself, but Juliet suspects that he was murdered. Bobby was an easygoing guy who did not seem to be at all suicidal, and for some reason, Juliet feels compelled to solve the mystery herself.

In the course of her investigation, Juliet barges in on all of Bobby's friends and relatives, including both the parents who adopted him and his birth mother. One of the ridiculous conventions of this type of book is that Juliet has no standing at all in this investigation. She is not a private detective, she is not a police officer and she is not even related to Bobby. Since the police have ruled that Bobby's death is a suicide, the case has officially been closed. Yet, Juliet manages to pry information out of an assortment of people who do not have to say one word to her. Yet, of course, they give her all of the information that she needs to solve the crime.

Juliet's long suffering husband, Peter, puts up with her shenanigans, even though she is endangering both herself and her family with her "investigations." The formulas and conventions wouldn't bother me if the mystery itself were at all entertaining. Unfortunately, there is nothing compelling about this case nor is the uncovering of the murderer's identity particularly suspenseful or believable. If Waldman wants to get back on track, she needs to bring back the truly humorous Juliet Applebaum and she needs to craft a mystery with a little more bite and substance.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lots of fun, October 28, 2002

By 

"jennykay" (Temple, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playdate with Death (Mommy-Track Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Poor Juliet Applebaum...she's a stay-at-home mom who's a little bored with her life. Fortunately, things keep cropping up to make her life more interesting. First, the director of the preschool she's trying to get her daughter into is mowed down in a hit-and-run (Nursery Crimes). Then, her babysitter disappears (The Big Nap). Now, her personal trainer has committed suicide...or has he? Juliet's determined to find out the truth.

The Mommy-Track mysteries are a great way to spend a couple of hours escaping from everyday life. Especially if that life involves Sesame Street and potty training.