Customer Reviews

Wicked, Loving Murder (A Patience McKenna Mystery)

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The five titles are, in order: Sweet, Savage Death; Wicked, Loving Murder; Death's Savage Passion; Rich, Radiant Slaughter; and Once And Always Murder. I have a few of the author's books written as Jane Haddam. These are lighter and funnier in tone. Except for the fifth book, they all skewer the publishing business, particularly Romance. (Now you know where the strange titles come from.)

The exerpt stops before the acid really starts. You should enjoy what Pay McKenna tells us she did with a past issue of "Writing". The descriptions (and dialog) are what make this book so much fun to read. You have unpleasant characters, losers, eccentrics, and insights into Romance Writers, not to mention the Hazards of Becoming/Being a Writer.

So who killed Michael Brookfield? Was it his Abusive Aunt Alida? One of his brothers? His aunt's right-hand woman, the terribly perfect Felicity Aldershot? Marty the Comptroller? Mrs. Haskell the Irate Client? Ivy the even more seriously screwed client? There is something definitely rotten at Writing Enterprises, and its not just their advice (or even Michael's corpse). If it weren't for her best friend, Phoebe, McKenna would love to walk out on it all.

Don't let the boring cover fool you. Even the original Crime Club dustjacket with the partial view of a person whose neck is wrapped around three times by a black ribbon with red hearts on it was more interesting -- and more fitting for such a funny book.

This is the second of Papazoglou's "Pay McKenna" mysteries. The others are, in order, SWEET, SAVAGE DEATH (First), DEATH'S SAVAGE PASSION, RICH, RADIANT SLAUGHTER and ONCE AND ALWAYS MURDER. They can be read in any order, but there's a slight edge to reading them in order if you can.

The central character is a Manhattan-based writer from Old Money New England, so the story takes place in New York, and most of the characters are romance writers or allied trades, with action centering on the editorial offices of WRITING magazine. It's a good workable mystery, and the "Pay McKenna" titles are always funny, but what makes it is the description of our heroine--foisted on the magazine as editor for a romance special issue--and her exploration of the magazine. Reread at regular intervals for about 20 years now. Just buy it.

Where to go from here: There are two other non-series Papazoglou titles, CHARISMA and SANCTITY, which I would rate a nearer suspense than mystery. More recently, under the pen name "Jane Haddam" the same author has done the "Gregor Demarkian" mysteries.

I am a fan of Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian novels Skeleton Key: A Gregor Demarkian Novel (Gregor Demarkian Novels) and so was glad to find this other series. They are a little dated in feel but still enjoyable. It does make you wonder about her relationship with her editor :-).