50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
There's no mystery here---, March 9, 2007
If you've never read any of the Sneaky Pie books--don't buy this one! Start at the beginning (Wish You Were Here) as this was once a great series, and read the books in sequence until you begin to get bored--then STOP!! The series only gets worse.
The wonderful warm characters have lost their charm, the "mysteries" have become flat and nonexistent, and the books have been weighted down with too much technical information.
Ms. Brown also has begun using her books as a soapbox for her many opinions. While it is interesting to find out an author's views, she goes on and on...and on. A case in point, there is a brief mention in this book about steroids in show animals, then she goes on...and on...about wanting steroids legalized for human athletes. As a mother I am appalled. As an avid reader; I think, "What the heck has this to do with the story?" A little hint--absolutely nothing!
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Great title -- poor book, March 16, 2007
Hey, where's the story? I believe this should have been made into a short story with only Mrs. Murphy, Tucker, Pewter and the horses talking. I am so disappointed. After looking forward to this book, I find that I cannot continue past the first 50 pages. It is just too painful. So, I am sadly putting the book aside and going to take a break from the Mrs. Murphy series. It was fun while it lasted but the time has come to move on -- for both Ms. Brown and me.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bait and Switch, March 19, 2007
This isn't really a mystery novel; instead, it's really just a series of harangues by the author on a variety of her pet topics disguised as a mystery novel.
The truth is that, with every installment in this series, the amount of political/social/economic diatribe placed in the characters' mouths increases, while the quality and quantity of the underlying mystery declines. If differing opinions were intelligently discussed and debated through the mouths of the characters, if there were any subtlety and nuance in the thinking, it might be a bit more digestible (if still mostly off track and pure filler), but here, incredibly, all the characters always seem to agree. By this installment, the characters have indeed lost their charm and their personality. They are merely mouthpieces that allow the author to endlessly grind away at her own pet issues. Whether you agree or not with her positions, all the haranguing disrupts the flow of the story and distracts the reader.
Unfortunately, since the writing keeps drawing attention to itself, it's also clear to me it isn't as good as it used to be, which may actually mean nothing more than that the quality of the editing has declined. There are too many sentences that have to be read over because they contain an ambiguity, or that beg to be read over because poor word order makes them say something that actually sounds kind of funny. And at one point, in a brief observation about how people in a relationship often independently dress alike, the point is totally blown by the fact that the text leaves out necessary information on the woman's shirt or blouse, so the comparison doesn't gel -- any good editor should have caught this with his/her eyes closed. Maybe everyone involved is just in too much of a rush to get the next annual installment out and collect the money.
I agree with earlier reviewers that this series is in decline. It's really too bad the entire enterprise seems to be resting on the laurels earned by the earliest installments. When I devote my very precious reading time to a book, I want the writing to be frictionless so I'm free to be totally absorbed by and lost in the story. What I don't want is to have the writing itself constantly intrude on and push me out of the story, to the point where over and over I all of a sudden realize I've stopped reading and instead am thinking, "Wow, is this ever irritating (or badly worded, or whatever)!"
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