Someone to Watch Over Me (Grace & Favor Mysteries, No. 3) [Hardcover]

Jill Churchill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 13, 2001

The incomparable, award-winning author of the bestselling Jane Jeffry series travels far from the contemporary Chicago suburbs to Depression-era New York State, where a brother and sister ensconced in a sprawling mansion on the banks of the Hudson long for better days...and fewer murders!

After the Crash of '29 sent the family fortune south, abruptly penniless, once-high-living Manhattanites Lily and Robert Brewster take up residence in their late great-uncle Horatio's estate in a small town near Hyde Park, renting out rooms to make ends meet until the gargantuan Grace and Favor Cottage is legally theirs ten years on. Though the adjustment has been difficult, the struggling siblings are finally getting used to small-town life. Lily has recently been accepted into the local Ladies League, and while she is away helping the organization do good works, Robert decides to do some much needed renovations...with rather disastrous results.

Robert is tearing down a dilapidated icehouse on the property when he inadvertently stumbles upon the last thing he expects or wants: a mummified corpse. The nameless cadaver is well dressed and the obvious victim of foul play with no identifying marks except the label of an exclusive New York City tailor sewn into his "burial" clothes.

While Lily works hand-in-hand with the disarmingly attractive Chief of Police Howard Walker on the local front, Robert pursues the Manhattan connection in search of an identity for their wellheeled, deceased John Doe. But a second dead body-combined with the World War I Veterans Bonus March on Washington by disgruntled ex-soldiers and a bizarre rash of vegetable pilfering -- is complicating an already complex, murderous matter in this quaint upstate community. And soon the many disparate threads of the investigation are tying up the amateur sleuthing Brewsters in a knotty mess of deception and betrayal...and leaving them dangerously exposed to the watchful eyes of a killer.

Joining Jill Churchill's immensely popular Jane Jeffry novels in hardcover, and deliciously rich in vibrant period color and atmosphere and peopled with an unforgettable cast of unusual characters, Someone to Watch Over Me is yet another unmitigated delight from the bestselling author. It's a wonderful journey back to a time of hope undimmed by national calamity, and innocence undeterred by deadly adversity.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After two paperback originals in this cozily charming series (Anything Goes and In the Still of the Night), Churchill makes an auspicious move to hardcover. In the long, hot summer of 1932, lovely Lily Brewster and her elegant brother, Robert, who've been left penniless by the 1929 crash, are living at a Hudson River estate, thanks to the generosity of their late Uncle Horatio. They must oversee their uncle's interests with the aid of lawyer Mr. Prinney and his hardworking wife, mindful that nothing will be officially theirs until they've occupied the place for 10 years. While Lily joins the Voorberg Ladies League to do her charitable best for the local village, her brother tends to the estate grounds. Robert discovers a long-dead body in an old icehouse, and no one knows who he was or how or when he was put there. Then a fresher body turns up, that of the out-of-work husband of one of Voorburg's hardest-working Ladies Leaguers. As Lily pursues one puzzle and Robert the other, Jack Summer, editor of the local paper, treks to Washington, D.C., to investigate a gathering of veterans seeking government relief from the Depression. Churchill neatly ties the disparate threads of the story together, all the while underscoring with subtle compassion the era's tragedies of daily life, major and minor. In contrast to the author's long-running Jane Jeffry series, which has become predictable, this one is still fresh and winning.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-When the stock market crash of 1929 takes the family fortune with it, Lily and Robert Brewster are lucky enough to inherit their great-uncle's home in New York state. Under the provisions of the will, they must live there for 10 years and earn their own salaries before the inheritance will legally be theirs. They take in boarders and begin plans to renovate the estate, until a mummified body of a murdered man is found in the ice house. Robert begins working on solving the crime just as Lily becomes involved in solving the murder of an acquaintance's husband. Churchill aptly describes the day-to-day life of people coping with the hardships of the Depression. She details the roles of wives, mothers, and single women in this era of poverty and harsher moral standards. Men face the challenges of finding employment and providing for their families. The result is a historically accurate portrayal of the people and the time. The mysteries add another dimension to the historical novel, each plot complementing the other.

Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (November 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060199415
• ISBN-13: 978-0060199418
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,354,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jill Churchill has won the Agatha and Macavity Mystery Readers Awards and was nominated for an Anthony Award for her bestselling Jane Jeffry series. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed Grace and Favor mysteries and lives in the Midwest.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great mystery, November 13, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Someone to Watch Over Me (Grace & Favor Mysteries, No. 3) (Hardcover)

At one time siblings Robert and Lily were card-carrying members of the idle rich, living off their father's fortune. When the stock market crashed in 1929, the duo was left destitute as their father committed suicide. Sadly, neither has a skill to earn a decent living--upper-class style, that is. However, a relative comes to the rescue by dying and leaving his vast estate to the brother and sister if they move into his mansion in Upstate New York and support themselves for the next ten years.

It proves very difficult to find work in 1932, but neither sit idle. Robert finds a body on the property and is determined to find out who he was, especially since Lily's new friend Roxanne is believed to have killed her husband though no corpse has been found. Lily knows her friend did not commit any homicide and decides to prove she is right. Is amateur sleuthing acceptable under the stipulations of their inheritance? The Brewsters do not care because they believe they must do the right thing regardless.

Jill Churchill has written a delightful historical cozy that captures much of the ambience of America's Great Depression. The bewitching Brewsters brood is adjusting to a radical lifestyle change while trying to help a neighbor. SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME is enjoyable: the characters are engaging, the plot strong and vibrant, and the mystery cleverly executed.

Harriet Klausner

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent entry in excellent series!, December 5, 2001

By 

C. Keith (Davisburg, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Someone to Watch Over Me (Grace & Favor Mysteries, No. 3) (Hardcover)

I enjoyed the first two books in this series, but this third one surpasses them by far. I literally felt like I was present, especially when Jack goes to Washington to interview the Bonus Marchers. It brought alive a period in history in a personal and exciting way. There are two mysteries, and while the sleuthing part of this novel is a bit weak, I didn't mind at all... because the story and characters were so compelling. I can't wait for the next addition to this series.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Churchill favors us with her Grace and Favor series, March 25, 2002

By 

Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Someone to Watch Over Me (Grace & Favor Mysteries, No. 3) (Hardcover)

Someone to Watch Over Me by Jill Churchill is the third book in Jill Churchill's Grace and Favor series. The previous two books, Anything Goes and In the Still of the Night were delightful light mysteries which introduced us to a wonderful mansion on the Hudson River occupied by wonderful characters. And now with this, her third book in the series, she continues to engage many of her readers who also remember her Jane Jeffrey mysteries.

Set during the Depression, the once wealthy Lily and Robert, brother and sister, continue to occupy the home left to them, with certain stipulations, by their great uncle. Their eventual inheritance is perdicated on the English law of Grace and Favor whereby they must not only occupy the home, but also work in the community for a period of time before they inherit anything. The house comes with an array of interesting people who work for them as well as townspeople who quickly become part of their lives.

But times are tough for all including Robert and Lily who are unaccustomed to worrying about money or working. Few in the village know who their parents were or the fact that they are now broke. As it happens in Churchills previous books a murder takes place which seems to occupy Robert and Lily's interest. Not only does the reader become involved with first one murder and then another, but at the same time Churchill gives us a mini Depression history lesson describing conditions as the towns local newspaperman covers thw Workers March on Washington for Wages. We become familiar with tent cities and the people who are forced to live in them as they too seek out ways of earning money and being renumerated fairly.

While I enjoy the mystery angle of these books, which is enough to satisfy any reader, for me it is the description of the area surrounding the Hudson River and the characters who really interst me in these books. Now I am once again waiting for the next book in this series to find out what everybody is up to.