Another pleasant Bennett outing, but weak entry in series, June 2, 2003

By	Gerald M. Bull "Jerry Bull" (Fairview, TN United States) - See all my reviews

The premise to get this book cooking was a bit far-fetched to begin with. Sifting through some old papers of her aunt's (whose house Chris inherited), Bennett discovers funeral notices and personal notes about a young adult who died essentially from being lost in the woods (in Connecticut) and another about a man who died (ruled a suicide) on his 50th birthday (hence the title) in the New York area. The two deaths occurred within days of each other some twelve years ago. With no more provocation than that, Chris starts bugging the families concerned for more details about their deaths -- and gee, guess what?? It turns out there is a connection between the two that of course was never discovered by the two police forces conducting the official investigations of the cases. We found that all a bit too much to swallow, and the numerous trips to the scenes and hours of questioning random household members and neighbors near the woods, etc., got to be pretty slow going for much of the book. Only at the end, where some brand new revelations helped turn all the clues into a solution, involving a character never introduced until near the final chapter, did things clear up.

We have noticed that since Eddie has come along, much of the books include filler describing the everyday tedium of meals and naps and trips to the babysitter. Indeed, much of this book looked like filler as Chris rambled on from one whimsical idea to another in a frustrating attempt to find clues. Perhaps it was we readers who were equally frustrated by a leading lady we like who has seemed to become, well, progressively boring as her life increasingly begins to resemble ours. We note that Lee Harris has started a new series ("Murder in Hell's Kitchen") and wonder if our author may have come to the same conclusion as us -- it may be time to move on.