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11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A good idea that was poorly executed, August 13, 1997
By A Customer
This review is from: Revenge of the Barbeque Queens: At The Barbeque World Series, More Than Ribs Will Be Swimming In Sauce (Dead Letter Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)
I found this book to be really tedious. It has a very nice premise, but that is about all. The writing is flat; the characterizations are one-dimensional and, at times, insulting; the story requires too much knowledge of barbeque and Kansas City.
When I judge a mystery, I look at it from two points of view. First, I ask myself if it was a good "mystery." Did it pique my interest? Did the solution make sense? Were the clues logical and useful? Most important, was the author playing fair with the reader and giving him/her all the information needed to solve the mystery? The book fails on all of these points. The clues given to the reader were at best obscure and at worst downright frustrating. There were pointless murders and murderers. I could go on, but I think the point is made: This is not a good mystery.
My second criterion for judging a mystery is the quality of the characters I encounter in reading the story. Are they interesting, rounded people? Do I want to know more about them? Is the dialog believable? As with my first criterion, the novel fails with this one. Characters are not only flat, but insultingly simplistic. For example, one of the local cops is suspicious, abrasive, and sexist. Frankly, I get tired of reading about suspicious, sexist cops. They don't forward the plot. They are boring.
I could forgive one or two bad characters, but this book contains a slew of them. There were so many nondescript actors in the novel that I had trouble remembering them all. This is a cardinal sin.
I hate to ream an author so thoroughly, but this book really bothered me. In addition to having a poor plot and weak characters, it was very poorly written. I will forgive almost anything except abuse of the English language. Poor sentence construction and paragraph structure drive me nuts. Reading this novel, I wanted to scream, "Get an editor, for crying out loud!" This is not a good sign . . .
To sum things up, this was a good idea that was hurt by poor execution. An editor and a better sense of dialog would go a long ways toward improving the book. Don't buy this one, folks; there are a LOT of mysteries out there. Spend your money more wisely.<P
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Ugh, February 3, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Revenge of the Barbeque Queens: At The Barbeque World Series, More Than Ribs Will Be Swimming In Sauce (Dead Letter Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)
If I thought the first book in the series was bad, the second one is just downright awful. My biggest complaint with the first book was the huge cast of supporting characters with common/similar names that made it very hard to keep track of everyone. In this installment, not only were all the original members of the supporting cast back, but we had a whole new supporting cast to learn as well. Why can't this author at least put an effort into naming her characters in a way that will make them stand out? We've got Sam, Sal, Sol, Stephanie, Bonnie, Bo, Barbara, on and on and on. And since none are developed very well, it's nearly impossible to keep track of who's who, and I eventually gave up caring. What made this book worse than the first in the series was that I couldn't see any reason whatsoever for Heaven to be as involved in this case as she was. Just because she found the body means she now has to stick her nose in and solve the crime? And what's up with Bonnie? This woman is supposed to be a police detective, very good at what she does, yet despite the fact that she warns Heaven and her friends to stay out of it, not only does she turn her head to their involvement (even when it's illegal) and use what information they give her, but she attends their covert neighborhood meetings, where Heaven continues to take charge and push forward with her own private investigation? And she allows Heaven to basically run the show? All this did was make her look totally incompetent as a law enforcement official. I don't know if the character of Heaven is supposed to come across as worldly or charming, but she comes across to me as a lowlife - the former career as a stripper, the disbarment for setting up a drug deal, the five ex-husbands, the boyfriend young enough to be her son. This has done nothing at all to endear me to the character. The writing is also poorly executed. Many of the characters have conversations with each other about things they already know in an effort to convey information to the reader (such as Heaven talking to her friend about why she can no longer practice law). I also find the recipes right in the middle of the story to be distracting and annoying -- the author should take a hint from Diane Mott Davidson or Katherine Hall Page and include an appendix with all her recipes. I've already purchased the next book, so I'll go ahead and read it...but unless there's a drastic improvement both in the characters and the storytelling, this will be my last visit to Kansas City.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
San Antonio, get a GRIP!!, October 13, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Revenge of the Barbeque Queens: At The Barbeque World Series, More Than Ribs Will Be Swimming In Sauce (Dead Letter Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)
I definitely have to disagree with the terrible review given by the person from San Antonio on August 12, 1997. They called the book tedious? Come on! This was a sophomore effort from Ms. Temple, and we still have yet to really know Heaven Lee. She does repeat(constantly) that she has been married several times and that she used to be a lawyer, but those tidbits are a part of H's character. I would like to see San Antonio's efforts in developing a very likable main character, think up an offbeat(but beleivable) murder, have very colorful and interesting friends and enemies, AND supply delicious recipies too! As a professional chef(pastry), I can confirm that the restaurant parts of the book are pretty real(the back of the house anyway). As a huge fan of the culinary mystery genre, Ms. Temple is a fabulous new entry who absoultely has the right stuff!
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