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The Undertaker's Widow |
List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.99 |
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Product Info |
Reviews |
Rating: Summary: Weird linguistic move, often repeated ... Review: I've read all of Margolin's books, enjoyed them, and still found points of annoyance. Widow's Undertaker contains a move, often repeated, where characters learn information which is explicitly not shared with the reader. While a mystery is writing when information is shared in an irregular manner, somehow Margolin's move struck me as sophomoric. There's an example, which is the paragraph that spans pp. 49-50. For Portlanders and for ravenous mystery readers, this is a book to read.
Rating: Summary: TILL DEATH DO THEY PART Review: In reading several of Margolin's novels, I find one consistency: his characters/heroes really do dumb/stupid things, and then expect the world to either forgive them or help them out. In "The Undertaker's Widow," Judge Richard Quinn is said hero. He has what he thinks is the perfect marriage with a career-driven wife, Laura, who doesn't find his sexual demands as worthwhile as he does. This obviously leads to Quinn's involvement with a mysterious young woman on a trip to an island called St. Jerome's. If Quinn is as moral as the book makes him out to be, his rendezvous with Amanda only shows the shallow side of this hero. Other than that, he does some more stupid things and winds up in the middle or a really nasty murder case. The titular widow of this book is one Ellen Crease, who is running for the senate, and kills a man who comes into her mansion to kill her wealthy husband. He does kill him, and from there on, we have a chaotic investigation, with several possible suspects, and Judge Quinn smack dab in the middle of it. Laura's turnaround near the end of the book, while not totallyl credible, at least is pleasant for our hero. The identity of the murderer in this one is, I admit, a surprise, but it's hasty resolution and it's "cute" little epilogue involving the lady's housekeeper is rather trite. Not a great read, and certainly not one of Margolin's best, but it's not a waste of time.
Rating: Summary: TILL DEATH DO THEY PART Review: In reading several of Margolin's novels, I find one consistency: his characters/heroes really do dumb/stupid things, and then expect the world to either forgive them or help them out. In "The Undertaker's Widow," Judge Richard Quinn is said hero. He has what he thinks is the perfect marriage with a career-driven wife, Laura, who doesn't find his sexual demands as worthwhile as he does. This obviously leads to Quinn's involvement with a mysterious young woman on a trip to an island called St. Jerome's. If Quinn is as moral as the book makes him out to be, his rendezvous with Amanda only shows the shallow side of this hero. Other than that, he does some more stupid things and winds up in the middle or a really nasty murder case. The titular widow of this book is one Ellen Crease, who is running for the senate, and kills a man who comes into her mansion to kill her wealthy husband. He does kill him, and from there on, we have a chaotic investigation, with several possible suspects, and Judge Quinn smack dab in the middle of it. Laura's turnaround near the end of the book, while not totallyl credible, at least is pleasant for our hero. The identity of the murderer in this one is, I admit, a surprise, but it's hasty resolution and it's "cute" little epilogue involving the lady's housekeeper is rather trite. Not a great read, and certainly not one of Margolin's best, but it's not a waste of time.
Rating: Summary: The Undertaker's Wido Review: It is about a woman whose husband gets killed in the middle of her campaign. She has the gun in her hand when the detective comes in. Her dead husband is lying in her lap with blood everywhere. The detective ends up believing that she did it, to get more publicity. He believes that she hired a hit man to kill him. At first his son believes this and tries to convince every one but they don't believe him until the evidence is obvious. This is a very thick book but the plot is very obvious and menus the explicit detail it wouldn't be a very big book.
Rating: Summary: The Undertaker's Wido Review: It is about a woman whose husband gets killed in the middle of her campaign. She has the gun in her hand when the detective comes in. Her dead husband is lying in her lap with blood everywhere. The detective ends up believing that she did it, to get more publicity. He believes that she hired a hit man to kill him. At first his son believes this and tries to convince every one but they don't believe him until the evidence is obvious. This is a very thick book but the plot is very obvious and menus the explicit detail it wouldn't be a very big book.
Rating: Summary: A very average read Review: Like many reviewers I have read and enjoyed mr.Margolins earlier books and am a little surpirsed with this one. The plot is OK, if somewhat simple. It does not take too long to figure out the main culprits, but the issues raised are interesting. What I find puzzling is that the book reads like it has been written in two weeks and somehow bypassed a good editor. Some parts of the story are far too long (like the development of the marriage between Laura and Quinn or the early court room scenes) and others are an insult to the readers intelligence, like not sharing the findings of the M.E.officer with the reader. What annoyed me finally was one of the recommendations on the paperback cover claiming that "the book reminds me in many ways of IN COLD BLOOD but in a way it is even better". That is bullocks and the publisher should know that.
Rating: Summary: A legal thriller with lots of ethical choices involved! Review: Margolin definitely has another bestseller here with all the twists in the plot. The situation is a judge faced with some of the most difficult choices in his life at one of the times in his life when his marriage is also in danger of failing. Some of the plot elements are evident to the reader (like the fact that someone is being set up as a "patsy") but the story itself grips the reader so hard that it's hard to put it down until you've read the conclusion. The characters are portrayed realistically--the reader feels empathy for the judge as well as Senator Crease, the undertaker's widow. Judge Quinn has to decide whether to live by Lincoln's credo which he has hanging on the walls of his chamber or to try to save his reputation and his position using any means necessary. Margolin is Grisham without the political commentary and with a lot of pathos.
Rating: Summary: Enjoyable, But Not His Best Review: Margolin's latest is a fast-paced, entertaining, but somewhat predictable, thriller. If this is your first book by Phillip Margolin, you'll probably like it a lot and look to read other books by him. If, however, you've read most or all of Margolin's previous works, as I have, you'll likely consider it to be not one of his best.
Rating: Summary: would make a great light weight Matlock t. v. fare Review: My wife and I are big Margolin's fan having read everything he has written. But, alas, his string has stumbled with this book containing too many characters, too many bullets and not enough of a believable plot to sustain worthwhile chair time at the beach. Methinks, Philip has ground this out to hurriedly and like fine sausage, contents are somewhat tasty but, we long for something better to sink our teeth into!
Rating: Summary: wonderful, as usual! Review: Philip Margoilin is one of the best writers and he always writes very interesting and actual books. This last one is fast pacing, intriguing, surprising. You don't have to miss it!
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