Puzzled Heart (Kate Fansler Novels) [Hardcover]

Amanda Cross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 1998 | Series: Kate Fansler Novels

"Eminently readable and satisfying," said P. D. James about Amanda Cross's acclaimed New York mysteries featuring English professor Kate Fansler.

Those accolades apply equally to The Puzzled Heart, in which Kate Fansler's husband Reed is kidnapped--and will be killed unless Kate obeys the carefully delineated directives of a ransom note.

Tormented by her own puzzled heart, Kate seeks solace and wise counsel from both old friends and new. But who precisely is the enemy? Is he or she a vengeful colleague? A hostile student? A terrorist sect? The questions mount as Kate searches for Reed--accompanied by her trusty new companion, a Saint Bernard puppy named Bancroft.

Hovering near Kate and Bancroft, almost within touch, are rampant cruelties and calculated menace. The madness of our time is on the move. And the moment is ripe for murder. . . .

The elegant crime novels of Amanda Cross have thrilled a generation of readers. The Puzzled Heart reconfirms her standing as the reigning master of the literary mystery.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Feminist scholar (and senior citizen) Carolyn Heilbrun has been writing and lecturing for years about the unique freedom women gain from being old and thus "invisible" in our culture. Writing under the name of Amanda Cross, she continues to explore this theme in another of her popular academic mysteries featuring feminist professor Kate Fansler. In The Puzzled Heart, Fansler's husband, Reed, has been kidnapped, and the ransom demand requires Kate to give up her left-leaning politics and join the Christian Right. Instead, Kate turns to septuagenarian detective Harriet Furst, a woman whose advanced age allows her to "move about the world unseen" as she gathers clues. It doesn't take long for Harriet to find Reed, but discovering who was behind the kidnapping proves more difficult. In the course of exposing the culprit, Cross entertains her audience with the kind of highly literate, witty writing and outspoken politics that have been hallmarks of Kate Fansler mysteries for the past 30 years.

From Kirkus Reviews

Hold on to your hats: Kate Fansler's husband, law prof Reed Amhearst, has been kidnapped. If Kate doesn't publish a statement recanting the feminist positions she's long shared with her English-prof creator, Cross herself, or if she contacts the authorities, Reed will be killed. Kate's response: ``I hate people who use contact as a verb.'' Soldiering on with nary a split infinitive (though she does stop sipping single-malt in her anxiety), Kate--with the help of her p.i. friend Harriet Furst (An Imperfect Spy, 1995), Harriet's partner Toni Giomatti, and a St. Bernard puppy named Bancroft--wastes no time in locating Reed. But just as the happy couple is congratulating themselves on their near-painless escape from the outrage, and you're becoming convinced that this is another of the limp talkfests that have recently passed for mysteries among Cross's fans, there's a murderous attack in an unexpected quarter, and Kate and Reed have an urgent new reason to figure out who was behind the kidnapping. Wicked right-wing radicals looking to declaw and discredit Kate? A departmental colleague simmering with resentment? A spiteful woman from her distant past? Or a combination of all three? The answers are unguessable (despite Kate's iron principles, her creator still doesn't believe in clues) and unsatisfying, but they do allow a comprehensive tour of contemporary feminism's enemies that makes this Kate's most stimulating outing since The Players Come Again (1990). (Mystery Guild main selection) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 257 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (January 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345418832
• ISBN-13: 978-0345418838
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,032,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you prefer feminism to mystery, this book is for you!, June 6, 1998

By 

Gerald Lipsky - See all my reviews

This review is from: Puzzled Heart (Kate Fansler Novels) (Hardcover)

Can you believe the Christian Right is so upset with Kate Fansler (a leading feminist) that they kidnap her husband and inform Kate that the ransom is Kate must cause a notice to be printed in the public press that she has renounced feminism! Silly. The author has often "pushed" feminism in her novels, but not to this extent. The ostensible mystery is really no mystery at all. The author did much better with THE IMPERFECT SPY, THE JAMES JOYCE MURDERS, POETIC JUSTICE and IN THE LAST ANALYSIS. Those novels were each a 10! The author's prose is ALWAYS delicious and that was the saving grace on this novel (otherwise this novel would rate a 1 from me).I am giving this author up; if I want to read about feminism, there is enough non-fiction around.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Personal politics in book from good mystery fiction writer., July 24, 1999

By 

J. H. Leimert (Los Angeles, CA. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Puzzled Heart (Kate Fansler Novels) (Hardcover)

As a lawyer, Wife, Mom and Nana, I have little time for fiction and choose it carefully. My favorite is sophisticated mystery and Amanda Cross has long been a favorite of mine. However, in her last two Kate Fansler books she has inserted her personal politics and harped upon them. It is not that I particularly agree or disagree with her political position, it is just not WHY I am reading a mystery novel. Cross me off (no pun intended) of her list of devoted readers!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The premise of the book was lame and the plot stupid!, August 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Puzzled Heart (Kate Fansler Novels) (Hardcover)

My book club read this book after looking at the jacket. (I guess there is truth to not judging a book by its cover!) All 10 people at our last discussion gave it a thumbs down. If this book weren't chosen by the group to read, I wouldn't have finished it. There is very little good I could say about this book. The characters, including the main character, were idiots. The one "who done it" unnecessarily involved herself in the caper and got caught. Much of what the characters did made no sense at all. We were all amazed that this was part of a mystery series because Kate was so stupid. I went back and read the book jacket and discovered that NONE of the comments on it refered to this specific book, but rather to the series and author in general (very tricky!)