The Puzzled Heart (Kate Fansler Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Amanda Cross (Author) "KATE FANSLER'S arrival on Leslie Stewart's doorstep was thoroughly uncharacteristic..." (more)
Key Phrases: Dorothy Hedge, New York, Saint Bernard (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Feminist scholar (and senior citizen) Carolyn Heilbrun has been writing and lecturing for years about the unique freedom women gain from being old and thus "invisible" in our culture. Writing under the name of Amanda Cross, she continues to explore this theme in another of her popular academic mysteries featuring feminist professor Kate Fansler. In The Puzzled Heart, Fansler's husband, Reed, has been kidnapped, and the ransom demand requires Kate to give up her left-leaning politics and join the Christian Right. Instead, Kate turns to septuagenarian detective Harriet Furst, a woman whose advanced age allows her to "move about the world unseen" as she gathers clues. It doesn't take long for Harriet to find Reed, but discovering who was behind the kidnapping proves more difficult. In the course of exposing the culprit, Cross entertains her audience with the kind of highly literate, witty writing and outspoken politics that have been hallmarks of Kate Fansler mysteries for the past 30 years. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
Hold on to your hats: Kate Fansler's husband, law prof Reed Amhearst, has been kidnapped. If Kate doesn't publish a statement recanting the feminist positions she's long shared with her English-prof creator, Cross herself, or if she contacts the authorities, Reed will be killed. Kate's response: ``I hate people who use contact as a verb.'' Soldiering on with nary a split infinitive (though she does stop sipping single-malt in her anxiety), Kate--with the help of her p.i. friend Harriet Furst (An Imperfect Spy, 1995), Harriet's partner Toni Giomatti, and a St. Bernard puppy named Bancroft--wastes no time in locating Reed. But just as the happy couple is congratulating themselves on their near-painless escape from the outrage, and you're becoming convinced that this is another of the limp talkfests that have recently passed for mysteries among Cross's fans, there's a murderous attack in an unexpected quarter, and Kate and Reed have an urgent new reason to figure out who was behind the kidnapping. Wicked right-wing radicals looking to declaw and discredit Kate? A departmental colleague simmering with resentment? A spiteful woman from her distant past? Or a combination of all three? The answers are unguessable (despite Kate's iron principles, her creator still doesn't believe in clues) and unsatisfying, but they do allow a comprehensive tour of contemporary feminism's enemies that makes this Kate's most stimulating outing since The Players Come Again (1990). (Mystery Guild main selection) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (December 26, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345418840
• ISBN-13: 978-0345418845
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #642,811 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you prefer feminism to mystery, this book is for you!, June 6, 1998

By	Gerald Lipsky (Los Angeles, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Puzzled Heart (Kate Fansler Novels) (Hardcover)

Can you believe the Christian Right is so upset with Kate Fansler (a leading feminist) that they kidnap her husband and inform Kate that the ransom is Kate must cause a notice to be printed in the public press that she has renounced feminism! Silly. The author has often "pushed" feminism in her novels, but not to this extent. The ostensible mystery is really no mystery at all. The author did much better with THE IMPERFECT SPY, THE JAMES JOYCE MURDERS, POETIC JUSTICE and IN THE LAST ANALYSIS. Those novels were each a 10! The author's prose is ALWAYS delicious and that was the saving grace on this novel (otherwise this novel would rate a 1 from me).I am giving this author up; if I want to read about feminism, there is enough non-fiction around.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A polemic, not a mystery, February 19, 2000

By	J. Marshall - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have enjoyed Amanda Cross' previous work, finding her mysteries both literate and amusing. So _The Puzzled Heart_ is especially disappointing. Its plot is absurd, as other reviewers have pointed out -- Kate's husband Reed is kidnapped and she is supposed to write a paper publicly renouncing her feminist beliefs in favor of "the family values of the Christian right" (p. 73). She does not contact the police, and he spends his captivity rejecting the sexual advances of female undergraduates. The second half of the book is slightly more believable, as Kate and friends try to find out who could be behind this silly plot, but the culprit when revealed has an even less realistic motive than the political and religious right, who were apparently brought into the first half of the book primarily so Kate could make impassioned speeches against them (e.g. "Leslie, the right wing in this country, Christians though they may call themselves, are besotted with their message. They are like fundamentalists everywhere, certain of their correctness and of being ordered by God to destroy those who disagree with that certainty. I think perhaps we should stop fooling ourselves about them" (p. 10). Though another character argues that very few on the right condone violence (108), the stereotyping of political and religious conservatives throughout the book is jarring, if not irresponsible.

This is not a novel as much as it is a polemic against fundamentalism, conservatism, and turncoat feminists. While Cross may use her fiction as a medium to bash her ideological foes, the weak plot, stilted dialogue, stereotyped characters, and portrayal of Kate as her university's lone beacon of liberalism reduce the power of that medium and hence, its message. If you're searching for a good mystery, don't bother with _The Puzzled Heart_. If you want to snort at the right, you might want to stick to _The Nation_.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful, July 28, 2000

By	Timo "Timo" (Los Angeles CA USA) - See all my reviews

I too am an Amanda Cross fan, but this book was just awful. When I got to the part where Reed & Kate were discussing his enticing kidnappers, I just had to quit. The author's political inserts really didn't bother me, but the terrible plot and unbelievable dialog did. Thankfully I borrowed this book from the library--and gave it a speedy return!