Hot and Bothered : A Bel Barrett Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Series Getting Silly and Stereotypical
Review: Every single character is a stereotype in this series, but the author is starting to really overdo it. We know Illuminada is an impatient Cuban -- can we get through a scene without her looking at her watch and throwing out a "chica" or "Dios mio"? We know Betty is an organized, African-American control freak -- can we get through a scene without her pulling out her Palm Pilot to take notes and throwing out a "girlfriend"? Sol is a laid back Jew...Raoul is a devoted to his wife Cuba...Vic is a macho Italian -- we get it already.

This story was just silly. Bel was able to solve the murder because someone had a business flyer...the same flyer she's seen in just about every place she goes during the book. I still have no idea how seeing that flyer for maybe the 9,000th time suddenly allowed her to wrap the whole thing up into one tidy little package.

Let's calm down with the characterizations and try to focus on the stories here...not in trying to paint pictures of characters who're becoming unlikable.

Rating:
Summary: Check out a wise, witty, mature sleuth--with a great plot!
Review: Fully tenured professor Bel Barret is giving a Faculty Development Seminar to new teachers on how to cope with their new students. At same time she is organizing the neighborhood block party and helping Sol, her significant other, cope with post-traumatic stress syndrome after seeing the World Trade Towers destroyed. Finally, she along with new neighborhood resident Eunice and two other neighbors, decide who is going to be awarded this year's scholarship for a semester at River Edge Community College in Jersey City.

Not too long after the block party, Eunice who moonlights as a stripper, is murdered. The police are looking at the nineteen-year-old student who didn't win the scholarship as a viable suspect. Sol wants Bel to figure out who the real killer is, as does the Dean of RECC and she gladly accommodates them because she doesn't want to see her young neighbor go to prison.

Most of HOT AND BOTHERED takes place in Hoboken, NJ one month after the events of Sept 11th and the people of that city can see where the two towers used to be. It affects everyone in a deep way but they all feel isolated and fearful. The heroine, who is in the process of major home repairs, does not want to leave the area and move to a quiet and isolated village as Sol keeps urging her to do. The investigation she conducts keeps her mind off her personal worries and involves her in something that she loves doing. Jane Isenberg knows how to write an excellent amateur sleuth novel with so many red herrings that reader will actually be totally shocked when the killer's identity is revealed.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: The fun is in the details
Review: I hate to go on a plane ride without a Bel Barrett mystery, so I was happy when Hot and Bothered appeared. I could tell you the plot (which I won't, don't worry) and you would still enjoy the scenes, the funny dialogue, and the people you meet. Life in Hoboken, New Jersey, although dangerous, is always entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Check out a wise, witty, mature sleuth--with a great plot!
Review: Picking up a new Bel Barrett mystery is a special treat for all those discerning readers who love a complex plot, but also like watching fascinating,continuing characters grow and change from book to book. In each book in this series, Jane Isenberg delivers both qualities--plus a great many smiles of rueful self-recognition along the way. In Hot and Bothered, Bel, Illuminada, Betty, Sol and the other midlife amateur sleuths we've come to know don't disappoint. They tackle a life-changing post-9/11 world and a close-to-home murder with seasoned skills and witty skepticism. This is a solid, well-crafted read, with surprising plot elements and reality-based character development. Isenberg's warm humor and unerring eye for human quirks keep interest alive from involving beginning to unexpected ending. If you haven't already met Bel and her crew, you have a satisfying series treat in store, starting with "The 'M' Word." And if you're already a Bel Barrett fan, you'll be as excited as I am to experience this timely foray into murder that combines the best of the courageous Big Apple (and environs)with a taste of its slightly sleazy underworld. Real people, real backgrounds, real mystery writing--it's all here. Hot and Bothered is cool and classy, indeed.