Amazon.com: Robber's Wine (Jane Lawless Mysteries): Ellen Hart: Books

Amazon.com Reviews
In another of her popular Jane Lawless mysteries, Robber's Wine, Ellen Hart weaves a delightful whodunit around a family secret hidden for years in the deep woods of Minnesota. The bonds that pull families together and apart become the very clues Jane and her sidekick Cordelia Thorn must sift through before they can get to the bottom of a revered family matriarch's murder.

Robber's Wine starts off slowly as Jane and Cordelia head to a much-needed summer vacation at Pokegama Lake, away from their hectic Minneapolis lives. On the way they decide to give old friend Anne Dumont a ride to her family home on the edge of Fosh Lake, where they stop to visit Anne's mother, Belle, another close friend. Upon arrival, however, they find that Belle has completely disappeared--the first intriguing step into a labyrinth of secrets that extends over three generations of the prominent Dumont clan.

Ellen Hart, winner of the 1994 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, draws out her latest taut thriller clue by buried clue. Jane's style is reminiscent of all the great amateur sleuths, as almost by accident she finds herself knee deep in the story. Jane is a likable sleuth who uses a combination of commonsense and persistence to find the murderer--not to mention a certain innate nosiness. It's her believability, and Cordelia's quirky sense of humor, that makes Robber's Wine such a page-turning pleasure to read.

From Publishers Weekly
As Minnesota restaurant owner Jane Lawless begins her vacation, the murder of a friend's mother sidetracks her in this seventh in the series (Faint Praise). Heading north on vacation, Jane and her friend Cordelia Thorne, take another friend, Anne Dumont, to her mother Belle's house where an urgent family meeting has been called. But when they arrive, Belle's lover, Helvi, says that Belle is missing. As Jane helps search for Belle, Anne's sister and brother arrive. The next morning, Belle's body is found at the foot of an incline. Jane finds Belle's purse with a note inside from Quinn Fosh, the town ne'er-do-well, saying he knows a secret about one of her children. Soon after Jane learns that Quinn was Belle's unacknowledged half-brother, he is killed at a Fourth of July fireworks display. Who is responsible for the deaths and why? The brother, whose political ambitions overshadow his judgment? The abused sister, who is running from her crazed husband? Or stolid Anne, who needs her mother's money to survive? Finding suspects in this transparent mystery among the children of a wealthy small-town family, Lambda-winner and former chef Hart tackles personal ambition, marital relationships and women's roles yesterday and today.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Robber's Wine (Jane Lawless Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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