Customer Reviews

Princess Charming

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Heroines: One average, one plump, and one extremely tall and thin (main character)

Pat, Jackie, and Elaine, a trio of divorcées known as the "three blonde mice", escape the bitter New York winter and set off on a tropical cruise upon the "Princess Charming", a ship caught in a 1980s interior decorating vortex whose passenger and activities lists are filled with every cruise stereotype imaginable.

A series of mishaps, an overheard phone conversation, and an anonymous note slipped under a door makes it plain that one of the women is the target of a planned hit by her embittered ex-husband. But which gal is at risk? And which passenger was hired to send this unfortunate lady to sleep with the fish? The polyester-clad-disco-king-has-been? The used car salesman with the short-lived short-term memory? The fastidious, well-to-do, bird-watching bachelor?

What worked for me:

  Ms. Heller's writing gets to the essence of the subject quickly, distilling the key pieces of information and throwing them out at the reader in startling combinations. It's amazing what she can convey in her effectively succinct yet descriptive phrases!

I loved the tongue-in-cheek humor in this story. Elaine was the epitome of the catty, witty friend you love to hear talking about others but secretly pray that she never talks in that way about you.

There were a slew of wacky, true-to-life characters in this book with plenty of choices for possible bad guys to keep you guessing.

And I enjoyed the burgeoning romance between the man-wary Elaine and her new friend Sam, but I enjoyed their octogenarian tablemates far more. We should all be so lucky in our love lives!

Size-wise the ladies were varied. The main character had some reservations about her six foot height and slender build, but mainly because she had lost her luggage and was forced to wear clothes that didn't fit her correctly.

What didn't work for me:    

    Some folks might not care for the first person point-of-view, but I personally thought it worked very well in this book.

Overall:

This outrageously funny mystery seasoned with a dash of romance makes for excellent light reading. I recommend it to fans of the mystery and romance genres alike.

Warning: there's a bit of coarse language and a couple of sexy scenes.

If you liked "Princess Charming" you might also enjoy "Infernal Affairs", "Plum Girl", The Stephanie Plum mystery series, and "Fast Women".

Heller has always been a 4 star comedic read for me. I can always count on her for a good evening's entertainment. This is the one time she failed me. Even then I can't say that this is badly written or that I couldn't finish it. I made it through without any big problem but I was disappointed when done. There hadn't been much LOL either. Essentially this is a tale about 3 women friends, all divorcees or about-to-be, who take a cruise together only to discover that one of them is the target for a hit-man by an ex-spouse who wants to get rid of her and his obligations to her. The lead woman meets a man onboard, who she starts having a shipboard romance with, only to ultimately wonder if he is the hit-man. Yes, it is a pretty lame idea, especially for Heller. Well, everyone has a miss and this was hers.

This was my first taste of Jane Heller's delightful and witty writing, and it has caused me to consistantly search the "new arrivals" rack for more of her work. Any woman who has had the joy of a long term, loyal friendship with other women will surely smile as Elaine and her friends look out for each other thru the ups and downs of their respective problems.

This book was a great mystery as it was set up with many possible suspects. It was exciting as well as funny, and you found yourself cheering on the " three blond mice" in their quest for happiness. A great read

Elaine and her two friends Jackie and Pat take an annual divorcee's trip, and this year they are going on a luxury cruise. Elaine's luggage is lost and she is forced to don tacky cruise wear and sequined gowns (and the descriptions of these outfits are hysterical). When Elaine overhears a plot to murder a divorcee, she makes the leap to think it's one of her pals who's been targeted, particularly when Jackie becomes suddenly ill and Pat takes a mysterious fall down the stairs. Elaine wades through clues to find not only the culprit behind the plot, but his intended victim, and make no mistake - everyone from the geriatric couple and honeymooners to sexy tablemate Sam are suspects. Sam's presence makes Elaine wonder if swearing off relationships wasn't too hasty a decision.

Add equal parts "Dial M for Murder," "Love Boat," and "Murder She Wrote," then toss in every cruise ship caricature imaginable, and you have Heller's hysterical plot. While the story starts out slow, once the action and sleuthing begin on the high seas, hilarity ensues. Heller's grasp of irony and witty bantering is unsurpassed. My only complaint - Pat's constant mispronunciations - it was funny the first twelve times, but quickly became annoying.

While drawn to the book by its cruise ship location, I found that it's not really true to the experience of cruising, although it certainly is to the spirit. The mystery is fun. The hero is enchanting. In short, if you are expecting anything deep and profound, skip this one. But for a lazy day by the pool, or better yet a deck chair on the sundeck, dive right in!

This is exactly what this book reminded me of. But, I know that the 'Three Blond Mice' weren't quite the age of the Goldern Girls, but Bea Arthur makes a terrific Elaine.

This is a very light-hearted story of three friends who, every year, go on a holiday, and this yr they have chosen to go on a cruise. Basically, the three middle-aged women have ex-husbands and they just want to get away from life for a while but the opening of the story introduces the reader to the fact that one of the women are going to get killed, commissioned by her ex-husband. The rest of the story is really about the three women, the men that they meet and of course, finding the killer before it is too late.

This is a very easy to read book, but I found that it wasn't very exciting and it nothing really happened. I really did conjure up Bea Arthur on The Love Boat, and if you liked those two shows, then you will love this book. Personally, I thought that 'Infernal Affairs' was much better and quite funny, where this is quite flat and uninteresting. Unless you are a huge fan of Jane Hellar, don't bother with this one.

I've gone on high end cruises, and low end cruises and Jane Heller has hit the cruising scenerio perfectly!

Adding mystery, suspense and romance to a fun storyline really makes this, my first Jane Heller book, a delightful and quick read.

Princess Charming was my first Jane Heller book. I was intrigued and enchanted with the characters,three mid-life, fun-seeking women on a cruise. I was sad to come to the end and, in searching out more books by this author, disappointed that Pat, Elaine and Jackie are not to be found. Jane, please give us more about these wonderful women!!

This book is about three women who met at their divorce proceedings and became friends. Each year they go on vacation together. This vacation is a cruise on the Princess Charming. The women call themselves "The Three Blond Mice" One of them hears a conversation about a hit man on board who is killing a women by request of their ex-husband. It later appears that one of the three blond mice is the target. It is a guess who the victim is as well as guess who the hit man is. The characters were interesting and it was well written.