Customer Reviews

This Old Murder (A Josie Pigeon Mystery #4)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Josie Pigeon series is a refreshing addition to the amateur-detective mystery genre. Josie, owner of an all-women remodelling crew, is an independent woman in an industry where that is rare. She is also intelligent, a good mother, and an interesting woman with many layers. Why is it that Josie has no contact with her family? What is her connection with the famous and perfect TV personality Courtney Castle? The reader will be wondering about these questions as much as she will wonder who killed the person Josie's crew finds in a house they are working on. "This Old Murder" has many intriguing mysteries, keeping the reader wondering right until the end!

I have read other Josie Pigeon books, and liked both the style and the characters. However, this one didn't seem to have the same zing that the prior ones did. For one thing, I guess I'm a little tired of Josie and company finding and hiding bodies, and Sam (her attorney boyfriend) covering up for them. Any real attorney would know he could lose his license for that kind of behavior, and anyone with the kind of intelligence Josie is supposed to have would use a little forethought.

I read this book at the shore, and it was the perfect complement to sand, sea, and sun. Josie Pigeon and her eclectic crew have to cope with a PBS crew filming Island Contracting's most recent remodel. As usual, Josie's group of women workers have their secrets, some of which might make them suspects when the high-powered murder victim is found. Josie's son is home for summer break, getting into the kinds of trouble even the best teenagers manage to find. Our favorite island characters are there--Sam, Josie's Italian landlady, and even the small-brained police chief and his son. This book is like a visit to a favorite vacation spot--intriguing, amusing, and hard to relinquish once it's done.

This story reads like a condensed book. All the way through I kept feeling that information was being left out. Ex. when it is revealed that the intern's name is Chad Henshaw, no mention is made that Josie worked on his mother's house in REMODELED TO DEATH, the book which introduced the Josie character. Josie doesn't react in any way to that information. The ending seems hurried as though enough words had been typed and it was time to wrap things up.

I read this book on vaction and loved it. We learn more about Josie's past (fascinating) and see her in a more fleshed out role as mother. As usual, the other characters in the book were lively, colorful and fun to be with. The victim is someone we all love to hate, which makes the book all that much more enjoyable. The story involves media coverage of a remodel a la "this old house." The woman who is the star of the program (the victim) is someone who has known Josie in the past. When she turns up dead, there are no shortage of suspects, but the biggest mystery is her relationship with Josie. A great "curl up and forget the world for awhile" book.

Josie Pigeon is the owner of Island Contracting. The small independent company employs people, usually women, who deserve to have a chance at making a better life for themselves. Josie is reasonably successful and gets along with all the members of her crew. Like all small contractors, she knows the value of good publicity. When the producer of Courtney's Castle, a PBS home improvement show, calls Josie and asks to feature her and her crew on the show working on a project, she reluctantly agrees. When the crew of Courtney's Castle shows up, Josie is shocked to learn that the show's hostess is a woman she grew up with, and their relationship was one of mutual dislike.

Both women act as if they don't know each other but that state of affairs does not last long because Courtney disappears. Shortly afterward, Josie and her crew find her body in the house they are remodeling. None of the women want to report the murder because they all have something to hide. When they finally reach a consensus, the body disappears. Josie hopes to figure out the identity of the killer, especially since she has had practice on other cases, before she or one of her crew is charged with murder.

Valerie Wolzien has mastered the art of creating an action-packed, droll amateur sleuth cozy. The characters are charmers especially Susan Henshaw,s son, who makes a brief but important appearance. THIS OLD MURDER is a mystery that is fun to read, and fans of this know that by the storys end, they will be feeling good.

Harriet Klausner

Sometimes I wonder how bad a book can be and still get published (as opposed to self-published). This book answers that question, I think. The characters are unsympathetic and act in ridiculous ways. When they find the body, they wonder if they should inform the police. But the police might suspect Josie, who knew the victim in high school but hasn't had any contact with her since then, or Dottie, who served a couple of years in prison but has no motive whatsoever for killing the victim. There's never any consideration of what charges might be brought against them for failure to inform the police. Their conversations are inane and repetitive. When Josie finally realizes who committed the murder, it's not through any investigative process that the reader is aware of. She just suddenly knows who did it. And when the suspects are confronted, they confess immediately. Throughout the book Josie keeps telling us what a good mother she has been to her son, who is now 17. Then, on the next-to-last page we find out that her son's full name is Tyler Clay Pigeon. Any parent who would do that to a child ought to be horse-whipped.