Rating: Summary: Fremont Jones in Boston Review: Boston is one of my favorite cities, and I visit it as often as possible. I was, therefore, very pleased that Fremont Jones decided to return to her native city to visit her ailing father in this latest installment of an excellent series of mysteries. The city itself is almost a character in the plot, and the author has done her homework quite well, for she has the geography of the streets down very well (I know, for I've walked many of them). She even stays at the Parker House, an elegant hotel in Fremont's day, and still an imposing one, where my wife and I stopped for a drink and some snacks one Saturday afternoon two months ago. The plot of the mystery is quite straight forward, and is solved expeditiously by our heroine at the end, as usual. It's a bittersweet book, for Fremont loses her beloved father, but does manage to attain justice, of a sort, at the conclusion. I await anxiously the next installment of her adventures.
Rating: Summary: Enjoy it because it's the last one! Review: Doubleday no longer intends to publish series mysteries, and because of this, Fremont Jones has met an untimely end. And because of contractual matters, Day can't take the series to another publisher. So, enjoy this one, folks -- it's the last in the series. It's a real shame!
Rating: Summary: Enjoy it because it's the last one! Review: Doubleday no longer intends to publish series mysteries, and because of this, Fremont Jones has met an untimely end. And because of contractual matters, Day can't take the series to another publisher. So, enjoy this one, folks -- it's the last in the series. It's a real shame!
Rating: Summary: Is This What American Literature Has Come To? Review: First off, I'm not on any publisher or bookseller's payroll. I'll keep my fingers crossed this gets posted.Secondly, I read "Beacon Street Mourning" after two books by P.D. James, a serious mystery writer. It is really beyond me how the apparent scriblings of a bright fifteen-year-old could sell for millions. Marketing in these United States is something to behold. Dianne Day, if such a person really exists, has no command of the English language. Her sense of history is limited to lists of street and building names. She draws her characters from a limited list of 1980-90s personalities. I'm sure that makes her readers feel at home, but history and good literature it is not. I give two stars because I was able to follow the plot and Day put in a good week-end of work. It makes me angry that such low-quality fare is offered the public. There are good writers out there. Publish them.
Rating: Summary: Fremont returns home- to a murder Review: Fremont Jones and her partner return to her native city of Boston. Fremont's father is very ill and feared near death. Fremont suspects that her stepmother is behind his illness. She arranges for her father to enter the hospital and then for nurses to attend him and he seems to rally, until one night, he suddenly dies of a heart attack. Unbeknownst to her stepmother, Fremont has been left the bulk of her father's considerable estate which can only lead to more trouble. This was a really quick read. The author takes you back to Philadelphia in the early 1900's. The story is very quick moving and the characters vivid. The mystery is not difficult, but no less interesting.
Rating: Summary: Great historical feel--fun heroine Review: Fremont Jones knows her stepmother is poisoning her father. The only thing is, no one believes he is being poisoned. If he were, sweet Augusta is the last person anyone would suspect. The doctors poo-poo Fremont, her father's bank partner questions her sanity, and even Michael, Fremont's lover, seems to fall under Augusta's sway. Dianne Day manages to convey 1908 Boston (the novel starts in San Francisco and moves to Boston) in both physical but especially the social and emotional senses. Fremont is unconventional (being a private detective), yet still bound by conventions. Day's style is a huge part of the book. Although there is certainly some complexity in the mystery, including whether there is a mystery at all, the chief joy in reading BEACON STREET MOURNING is in the reading itself.
Rating: Summary: Another good outing Review: Fremont Jones remains a very enjoyable character. In the latest edition of the series Fremont finally resolves the problem of her father and stepmother that has been bedevilling her since the first entry in the series. I see that Ms. Day is now beginning a series centered on Clara Barton. Hopefully we have not seen the last of Fremont.
Rating: Summary: Good Book Read It! Review: I'm not going to bore you with another rendition of the plot of this book. Four other reviewers have done an excellent job. I will say that a reader should start at the beginning of this series to get the full enjoyment of this story. Fremont Jones is a wonderfully fleshed out character. Ms. Day is a wonderful and entertaining writer. She does a great job of characterization and plotting in her books. The author is also great at giving her books a good feel for the times. Weather it be, social, physical or emotional. The reader gets the added plus of comparing East and West Coast in this installment. Ms. Day is right, there is a vast difference between the two. May be next time Fremont can go to Southern California, once again there is a vast difference. It would be interesting to see Fremont's take on that one. The mystery in this installment is a good solid one. Who did what or did it happen at all? Then the why, Ms. Day as always does an excellent job of closing the plot and explaining the why of this story. Once again, I wholeheartedly recommend this book and series. One note to the previous reviewer, read "The Strange Files of Fremont Jones" to find out about the Fremont relation. One does not have to have children to have people related to them.
Rating: Summary: Another Good Book From Dianne Day! Review: I'm not going to bore you with another rendition of the plot of this book. Four other reviewers have done an excellent job. I will say that a reader should start at the beginning of this series to get the full enjoyment of this story. Fremont Jones is a wonderfully fleshed out character. Ms. Day is a wonderful and entertaining writer. She does a great job of characterization and plotting in her books. The author is also great at giving her books a good feel for the times. Weather it be, social, physical or emotional. The reader gets the added plus of comparing East and West Coast in this installment. Ms. Day is right, there is a vast difference between the two. May be next time Fremont can go to Southern California, once again there is a vast difference. It would be interesting to see Fremont's take on that one. The mystery in this installment is a good solid one. Who did what or did it happen at all? Then the why, Ms. Day as always does an excellent job of closing the plot and explaining the why of this story. Once again, I wholeheartedly recommend this book and series. One note to the previous reviewer, read "The Strange Files of Fremont Jones" to find out about the Fremont relation. One does not have to have children to have people related to them.
Rating: Summary: unnatural causes Review: In Beacon Street Mourning, Fremont Jones, suspicious her ailing father is being neglected by his wife Augusta, returns to Boston to see him. Her father begins to improve, then suddenly dies. Fremont must solve what she believes to be murder by poison, while others, including his doctor, contend that her father died of natural causes. Did an old friend betray Fremont and her father? Did Augusta kill him thinking she would inherit?
I like Fremont's independent spirit. She's true to those special, courageous women of her time who proved to the world that women could be more than decorations. The characterization is superb, and though I'm no historian I believe Ms. Day kept this story true to the era. This is fine writing, in a well-crafted book, that I wanted to read slowly and savor. It was the first I've read of Dianne Day's work, and I have since returned to this author's work.
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