Death Hits the Fan: A Kate Jasper Mystery (Kate Jasper Mysteries (Hardcover))

Rating:
Summary: this book might appeal to a few vegetarians
Review: If you like books in which the amateur detective is an aggressive female, her lover is a whimp with muscles, all the meals are meatless, and an irritating parrot repeats phrases after hearing them once, Death Hits the Fan is just the book for you. In this mystery, a science fiction author is murdered at a small meet-some-authors gathering at a bookstore. The premise is good, but the characters are either boring or irritating. I kept hoping that one of the men in the book would eat a steak, say "shut up" to one of the women, and find a backbone. I also hoped the parrot would fly away, that the female characters would exhibit some common sense, and that the book would end. The book finally ended, but none of my other hopes were realized.

Rating:
Summary: Fun.enjoyable and uplifting
Review: Some people cannot help attracting trouble. However, gag supplier Kate Jaspar goes one step beyond and seems to always find a murder that has just been committed. Kate cannot walk away from homicide until she has solved the case even though she constantly places herself in danger. Her long suffering live-in lover, Wayne Caruso, does not try to stop her anymore. Instead, he assists her on her i nvestigations so he can be near to protect her from harm.

When Wayne and Kate attend a science fiction-mystery authors' book signing, there is one protester who claims that science fiction is demonic poisoning. However, things change for the worse when one of the writers puts a bracelet on her wrist and abruptly dies. The bracelet contained a syringe filled with a poison that was injected when the writer snapped it on her wrist. Kate and Wayne try to determine who left the poisoned bracelet on the table. They soon learn that many of the attendees had the opportunity and the motive.

Anyone in the doldrums should try DEATH HITS THE FAN for a fast uplifting rush. It is difficult to remain sad when one is surrounded by quirky characters who make sense in a crazy kind of way. The secondary sub-plots are humorous, making it impossible not to smile even as the reader tries to solve an interesting mystery. Jacqueline Girdner demonstrates that her talent is at the Mensa level.

Harriet Klausner