Customer Reviews

Preaching to the Corpse: An Advice Column Mystery

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

 

 

Preaching to the Corpse offers three things I look for in a mystery: a lovable heroine, a fun story and an escape (for me) to an authentic-feeling new place, in this case, a small-town New England church.

The heroine, psychologist/advice columnist Dr. Rebecca Butterman, is appealing because she's wise but not smug. She understands people and their motives. But she also realizes that she's better at solving other people's problems than her own.

The drama comes when Dr. Butterman is immediately drawn into a puzzling whodunit - Who killed Lacy Bailes, a churchgoing lady in the thick of some bitter church politics? Lacy was the head of a search committee to find a new assistant pastor.

The most fun in the book, I thought, came from the bitterness of the search. One church lady denounces a female candidate, at one point, because she believes the job should go to a man. "We just aren't built the same way," she explains. A man, meanwhile, is hostile to a candidate he suspects is gay.

After several fun twists and turns, the book ends in an improbable, but exciting, way that makes Preaching to the Corpse, all in all, a very fun ride.

Looking forward to the next installment.

Rebecca Butterman is a psychologist who writes an advice column for "Bloom!" magazine and gets her patients through their hardest moments. She loves to cook, has a crush on the local police detective, and somehow manages to get herself involved in murder mysteries as a unofficial (but exceptionally good) sleuth. So when her pastor discovers a church member's body and the locals suspect foul play, Dr. Butterman's warm heart and curious mind come to the rescue. What follows is an enjoyable story that feels very much like you're talking to a good friend who just happens to run around Connecticut solving police cases. When she's not confronting gun wielding villains or helping folks figure themselves out she's usually in the kitchen, making something scrumptious. As a foodblogger I can't help but mention that one of my favorite things about Robert Isleib's novels is how food plays a major role. So often authors gloss over what their characters' eat for breakfast, what they bake for themselves when they're down, how the taste and smell of a dish is affected by their mood. Isleib shares all those details with you in an engaging, often mouthwatering way - and now that she has begun sharing a few recipes on her blog I'm looking forward to recreating some of Dr. Butterman's treats. Which is to say, I'd like to enjoy the comfort food without having to earn it by solving a murder mystery!

This novel is a sequel to the author's previous novel, "Deadly Advice," and features the same main character, Dr. Rebecca Burrerman, a practicing psychologist who also writes an advice column.

Dr. Butterman receives a telephone call in the middle of the night. A woman from her church congregation has died under suspicious circumstances. She is dragooned into replacing the woman as chairman of the church's search committee that has been involved in finding a new assistant minister. Dr. Butterman is not a joiner, and has normally avoided becoming involved in things like committees. She now finds herself in the middle of church politics and disagreements. She has also been asked by police inspector Meigs to check into a few things, but admonished to stay out of the investigation into the death. Ha! She of course sticks her nose into things because events seem to be related to the work of the committee. Also, people will talk to her when they will not talk to the police.

There are a few sidelights about her family, including references to her father who decamped when she was a child. And there is the situation between Inspector Meigs an his wife, who is suffering from ALS.

I would note that the author is a practicing psychologist. She seems to be a dog person, although Dr. Butterman has a cat (as Dr. Butterman says, the man in her life purrs and uses a litterbox).

Roberta Isleib's "Preaching to the Corpse", plunges into suspense when Dr. Rebecca Butterman gets a call in the middle of the night from her minister, Rev. Wesley Sandifer. He's at the police station. Lacy Bailes, a church member, is dead and he's a suspect.

Dr. Butterman is a psychologist, but she also moonlights as Dr. Aster, an expert on heartbreak and love for Bloom!, an online magazine. Now she finds herself as Lacy's replacement on the search committee for a new pastor. At first, it was to help out her minister. When the suspicious death was discovered to be a murder, Detective Meigs asks her to his eyes and ears on the committee, which might give him a clue as to who the killer might be.

When reading the banter between Rebecca and her friend, Angie, the word witty came to mind. The characters are believable and the mystery well orchestrated. I had no clue who the killer was until the very end!

Preaching to the Corpse is the second book in the advice column series. Once again Dr. Rebecca Butterman finds herself close to a murder investigation and unable to resist to do her own sleuthing. I liked this mystery even better than Deadly Advice. There were more twists and turns to keep you guessing.

Dr. Rebecca Butterman receives a frantic phone call in the middle of the night from her pastor. One of the parishioners was murdered and he's in police custody. After being questioned and released by the police, Reverend Wesley asks Rebecca to fill the Lacy's empty position. Lacy was the chair of the search committee to hire a new assistant pastor. Rebecca agrees hoping this will lead to clues to solving Lacy's murder. Was Lacy killed over her choice for the new assistant pastor? It's up to Rebecca to find out before the killer silences her vote too.

I love the sleuth in this series because she's so real and down to earth. Not flashy, crazy, wealthy, tacky, or any of the other extremes that some writers resort to now to capture our attention, Butterman captures us wholeheartedly without the glitz. This makes it easy to travel the journey of the book with her -- from the meetings at the church to her encounters with the neighbors, we're there walking beside her, sleuthing along. I've already bought more books in this series and recommend it to you.

In Preaching to the Corpse, Rebecca Butterman takes us along a light-hearted path into the nether regions of human behavior amongst ordinary people like us. I love how this unpretentious series probes the faces behind the masks that all of us wear. Nobody's exempt from low behavior, be it the minister or church committee members tossing zingers at each other for the most righteous of motives. What better place to hatch a murder! Even Rebecca, the advice columnist, has trouble keeping her own head in order. As with Deadly Advice, the story drew me into the setting and kept me engaged right through to the end.

What I love about this series is that Rebecca Butterman is such a delightful character. She's got a great, wry sense of humor and doesn't take herself too seriously. At the same time, this mystery is ABOUT something. It really makes you think...about the balancing act required of people who are ministers and psychologists, about the difficulty of getting past emotional wounds inflicted by those we love...Isleib even has something interesting to say about religion, and the role it fills in our lives.

Rebecca Butterman is part psychologist, part advice columnist and the best friend you'd love to have! Isleib brings her and the small town Guilford, Connecticut to life.

Deadly Advice introduced the complex, caring character and Preaching to the Corpse brings her back in full force.

When Dr. Butterman receives a call in the middle of the night from her minister, saying he's in custody after finding a parishioner dead, she jumps in and uses her analytical skills as a psychologist to find the killer. Isleib keeps us guessing with cleverly planted clues and keeps us wondering what will happen between Dr. Butterman and the very married Detective Meigs who keeps showing up in her life. Think Russ and Claire!

I highly recommend this series.