The James Joyce Murder (A Kate Fansler Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Amanda Cross (Author) "KATE," Reed Amhearst said, disentangling his long legs from the small car, what on earth are you doing here?..." (more)
Key Phrases: Mary Bradford, Grace Knole, Miss Fansler (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"If by some cruel oversight you haven't discovered Amanda Cross, you have an uncommon pleasure in store for you."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Kate Fansler is vacationing in the sweet and harmless Berkshires, sorting through the letters of Henry James. But when her next-door neighbor is murdered, and all her houseguests are prime suspects, her idyll turns prosaic, indeed....


From the Publisher
When I read THE JAMES JOYCE MURDER, I instantly became a fan of Amanda Cross and her protagonist, English professor Kate Fansler. And I continued to devour this wonderful series: THE QUESTION OF MAX, DEATH IN A TENURED POSITION, NO WORD FROM WINIFRED -- and onward. In time, I (and many other readers) came to realize that "Amanda Cross" is a pseudonym for Dr. Carolyn G. Heilbrun, the revered Columbia University professor whose WRITING A WOMAN'S LIFE and other nonfiction volumes are recognized as ground-breaking classics in literary criticism and feminist studies. My admiration for the author grew and grew -- in both her guises. And then a few years ago, I had the great good fortune to become the editor of her "Amanda Cross" half. Which has given me many opportunities to get to know Carolyn personally (it helps that we live only a few blocks from each other). So I've been in the company of this widely beloved author for autograph parties, bookstore events, an honorary dinner, and recently at the ALA (American Library Association) conference, where scores of adoring fans -- librarians and educators -- patiently queued up to get personally autographed copies of THE PUZZLED HEART, the latest Fansler mystery, as well as backlist titles in the series. Even with the resultant writer's cramp, it was a great day for "Amanda." And another cherished memory I have of this charming, gracious, and multitalented author.

--Joe Blades, Associate Publisher

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (February 12, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345346866
• ISBN-13: 978-0345346865
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #357,780 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The James Joyce Murder, January 24, 2007

By	Anna M. Ligtenberg "AnnaLovesBooks" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

ISBN 0345346866 - As a mystery fan, I opened this one happily. I was far happier to close it. Most of the book is written in a very pretentious way - paragraphs such as "She's gone, though not without collecting a bottle of vinegar, expressing inchoate horror at the use of wine vinegar at twice the price of ordinary, asking if she could borrow the house for her garden club's tea, informing me she was busier than anyone else on earth, and wondering, with barely concealed salaciousness, what were the functions of the two young men in this household. I have become very disillusioned about the rural character. I suspect that Wordsworth, when he took to the country, never spoke to anyone but Dorothy and Coleridge, and perhaps an occasional leech gatherer." actually pour from the mouths of Cross' characters. Almost non-stop. It's an affectation, I assume, because there are points in the book when people converse in simpler language.

Kate Fansler went to school with Veronica Lingerwell, daughter of the now-deceased Sam Lingerwell, publisher. Sam's estate is left to Veronica, who is now a nun. The estate includes a large number of Sam's letters and among them are letters from James Joyce, whose work Sam published. The letters are of great interest to many and Kate, as an English professor, is asked to help sort them and decide their fate. She hires a grad student to help, almost accidentally acquires her nephew Leo and hires another grad student to help with him and takes the lot of them off to Lingerwell's country home to get some work done.

Mary Bradford, their neighbor, makes herself generally obnoxious; it's hard to find anyone in the area - local or visitor - who DIDN'T dislike her. When she's shot, it's equally hard to find someone who wouldn't, at some point, liked to have shot her. The members of the household rally around William, Leo's tutor, to help find the real murderer before the police can cart William off to prison.

Since this is one in a series of books, I'll likely read others and I really hope that Cross gets the stick out of her...spine. The characters aren't particularly sympathetic, since almost all of them speak the same way - like pretentious snobs that I would most definitely NOT like to know. If you're a fan, read it for the through-story of Kate. If you're new to Cross, you might want to start elsewhere, because this one is a let-down.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Psuedo-Mysterious, September 25, 2002

By	dr. b. (Lafayette, IN USA) - See all my reviews

Hmmm... not sure if I can find the words to describe this one. Trite? Pretenious? Boooooorrrrring? While Kate Fansler is both amatuer sleuth and professor of English, there is absolutely no reason for her to go around spouting off obscure Joycean witticisms to any and everybody (and I actually like Joyce)! For the non-English studies person some parts of the text will make absolutely no sense, and for the English studies person those parts will just seem senseless. I was literally more than 1/3 finished with the book before I realized that the crime had not yet take place because Cross had spent most of that time making sure that the reader was well aware of her knowledge on Joyce.

...

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Erudite funny mystery, February 4, 2001

By	D. P. Birkett (Suffern, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Several academics in a country house containing rare James Joyce manuscripts. The murder plot is secondary to a lot of talk about academic and literary life some of which is clever and informative. The dialog is elaborate and full of phrases such as "If you had decided to embrace the rural life you might in decency have let me know" interpolated with Oscar Wilde type paradoxes, which are sometimes mildly amusing. Many cliches - people are in "hot pursuit" "immured in the library" "deep in conversation" and fall into "fitful sleep" If you like this you will like Sarah Caudwell, but the reverse does not hold. It's just not as good as Caudwell.