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Rating: 
Summary: Dear Mouse...
Review: Forget about bad days; has-been, alcohoilic movie actor Matt Logan is having a bad life. His wife is divorcing him, his "Famous Grin" has been mangled in a car wreck that was his fault and worst of all, a restraining order is keeping him from seeing his beloved small daughter. It would be hard to feel sorry for Matt if his love for his daughter (nicknamed Mouse) didn't shine through on every page of the journal he's writing for her.
As he attempts a comeback as a scar-faced villain in a low-budget "horror romance" film, Matt leads with his heart and finds himself not only accused of murder, but stalked by frightening mountaineers and haunted by the plight of Shannon, another small girl without her daddy.
The dialogue is brisk and filled with dry humor, the action sometimes brutal, but always there is that thread of tenderness.
Schuyler Kaufman has taken a moving family story and hard-boiled it. A refreshing, tender twist on the two-fisted mystery genre.
Rating: 
Summary: A refreshing, tender twist on the two-fisted mystery genre
Review: Forget about bad days; has-been, alcoholic movie actor, Matt Logan is having a bad life. His wife is divorcing him, what he calls his "Famous Grin" has been mangled in a car wreck that was all his fault and worst of all, a restraining order is keeping him from any contact with his beloved seven-year-old daughter, Michaella. It would be hard to feel much sympathy for this guy if his love for his child, whom he has nicknamed Mouse, didn't shine through everything he tells us. We experience all of Matt's trials in the pages of a journal he is keeping, addressed to his daughter. The story follows Matt through his recovery from his injuries, his fight against alcohol and his movie comeback as a rakish, scar-faced villain in a low-budget "horror romance," being filmed in the mountains of North Carolina. It is here that all his problems finally come together, for better or for worse, culminating in a gut-wrenching struggle for the future of a child.
The dialogue is brisk and filled with dry humor, the action sometimes brutal, unsparing of the weak-kneed among us, but always, there is that thread of tenderness. In DEAR MOUSE, Schuyler Kaufman has taken a moving family story and hard-boiled it. A refreshing, tender twist on the two-fisted mystery genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Bends, but Doesn't Break, like the Protagonist's Famous Role
Review: Had the tag trailing the title for this mystery novel indicated moviemaking in glitzy Hollywood rather than in the Carolina mountains, I would have had no interest. But the contributions of an Appalachian environment on actors and actresses is another matter. Put another way, the industry there is not so big that it can keep out unwanted influences. And so the Bellers, a familiar family name, are everywhere; and although they could show up in many forms, in this story they appear frequently as "trash-Bellers." One of these, Crystal Beller, is the first to be murdered, and she is of immediate interest because others say of her that she can become anyone in her desire to be a starlet. Of course, such a statement is really doubly interesting, in addition to being a nice device to spread the mystery, because it suggests that those saying it may be capable of the same subterfuge. Written in the form of an epistolary novel, letters from a recovering alcoholic father/leading man to his young daughter, this novel introduces numerous characters in order to confound the deductive reader, and each succeeds in the mission if the reader lends to it his or her own contribution of subtle thinking. At the same time, the form often denies the extended description of a character here or there-you wouldn't expect Matt Logan to fully detail someone to his little girl. It also denies the more evocative descriptions of the beautiful Carolina mountains and that, perhaps, is a fault. But overall, the story runs true from beginning to end and was an enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: A Quick, Decent Read
Review: Her professional background in "The Winter People" gives Kaufman authenticity. She has a refreshing voice and is able to present an intriguing picture of what goes on in the filming of a movie. Kaufman's hero, Matt Logan draws your sympathy, but not your pity. He is a three dimensional character as he overcomes an addiction and grieves for a missing daughter.
This is a charming book that leaves you rooting for the winner.
Rating:
Summary: Dear Mouse
Review: I admit that I am a biased reader. Schuyler Kaufman asked me to read her manuscript before it was published, because she knew that my favorite pastime reading is mystery novels. I did not expect this manuscript to be so absorbing. With perhaps a little leaning toward the violent side, Dear Mouse is a well-crafted, traditional "cozy," without the excessive sex, violence, and darkness that pervades much modern literature. The lead character, Matt Logan, is multidimensional; the dialogue portrays the characters vividly; the plot is intriguing; and the setting (the making of a movie) was fun to learn about. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the next Kaufman novel. (I hope I get a preview again.)
Rating:
Summary: A Movie Buff's Thoughts
Review: If you are a movie buff as I am, and if you have ever wondered about what really happens on one of those out-of-Hollywood shoots, then you are going to enjoy reading "Dear Mouse" by Schuyler Kaufman, a mystery writer who has experienced being "on location," and who has had the opportunity to be an "extra" in an actual film.
"Dear Mouse" has it all: A location in the Mountains of North Carolina; the townspeople's reaction to a filming and to these strange film folk; the glamour of Hollywood actors and a peek behind their facades; a genuine look at a make-believe world from behind the cameras; and, to keep you on your toes, a murder.
I don't want to give away the plot of this very readable novel, but I can tell you there are twists and counter-twists that will keep your mind in high gear as you try to stay one step ahead of the storyteller--and Ms. Kaufman is a first-class storyteller.
As a movie buff, I was delighted; as an avid reader of today's new writers, I felt--in this age of high gasoline prices--that I had discovered oil in my back forty.
I'm waiting for your next novel, Ms. Kaufman. How soon?
Rating:
Summary: A Quick, Decent Read
Review: Matt Logan, a famous movie actor, has just been released from the hospital after surgery to reconstruct his face after a drunk-driving accident. His 7-year-old daughter was sitting alongside him. He is about to begin a year of community service and rehab, and he wants to see his daughter, who was unhurt in the crash, even though his estranged wife has attained a restraining order against him. As he waits outside her school, his wife's lawyer comes up behind him and reminds him that he is in contempt of court. He only gets to watch her from 500 feet away.
As the novel progresses, Matt begins to put his life back together, going to AA meetings and working on a new movie in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. It is here that a whole new set of problems arises for him.
For fans of the genre, Schuyler Kaufman's first novel, Dear Mouse... will satisfy more than just the desire for a "whodunit." Besides being a murder-mystery, Ms. Kaufman's novel, written from Matt's perspective as a series of journal entries in the form of letters to his daughter, who he refers to as Mouse, is about a recovering alcoholic father trying to reconstruct his life and reunite with his daughter, while both working on a movie and being suspected for the murder of a young wannabe starlet who once tried to seduce him.
Ms. Kaufman provides an unsentimental view of a recovering alcoholic while weaving a subtle mystery into an interlocking tale of love, lies, and redemption. In developing her characters, she allows them to be seen as real people with vulnerabilities and fears, who don't always speak in polished sentences or behave in the most elegant manner. For this she is to be praised, and for the sarcastic wit that sometimes shines through in her prose.
For example, there is a scene in which the seductive starlet tries to blackmail Matt and the movie's director into giving her a role by threatening them with accusations of rape. The director calmly points toward a video camera in the corner of the room with the red light blinking that recorded the whole affair. After she storms off, embarrassed and angry, Matt worries that she will sell her story to the tabloids, but the director says to him, "She won't go near it. Stupid people can't stand being laughed at."
In another scene of equally sarcastic ridicule, Matt approaches a receptionist at the tabloid newspaper office to diffuse an embarrassing story about himself that has just been printed. Ms. Kaufman's receptionist ignores his request completely and begins to rattle off her favorite things about his previous movies, "with a true fan's disregard for time or convenience."
There is one other instance where Ms. Kaufman's dry humor particularly stands out. In two sentences she caricaturizes the five major American news channels and their typical tongue-in-cheek positions. As Matt hears the news from the front desk clerk at the hotel where the cast is staying, we read, "NBC says you did it, CBS says you'll get off because you're famous, ABC says you'll get nailed because you're famous. Fox says you're innocent. CNN won't say." At points like this Ms. Kaufman is at her most entertaining.
However, such scenes are sometimes interspersed with awkward phrases like "Ah, geez" and convoluted constructions with questionable word choices like "Coffee was created, " which even in context is difficult to read. These slips hinder the reader's concentration. Ms. Kaufman's attempts at making her characters seem real often fails when she uses such terms and constructions. Also, there is a sublte desire for the novel to seem deep when it really isn't.
There is a darker side to this novel, one that reveals a shadowy undertone in Ms. Kaufman's storytelling. We learn of a young girl, about the same age as Matt Logan's daughter, who, having heard about his separation from his own daughter, writes letters to him and sort of adopts him as a surrogate father. Her own father molests her, and she uses her letters to Matt as a mental escape. Matt comes to look on her letters as an inlet into his own daughter's life, which he is not allowed to be a part of. His sympathy and sense of helplessness to rescue her is as genuine and wrenching as if she were his own.
In all, Ms. Kaufman has written a subtly dark mystery with a disturbing yet hopeful surprise ending. The local flavor she supplies with her references to known landmarks and her use of colloquialisms makes this book a fairly enjoyable and quick read for mystery enthusiasts.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun and Absorbing Read
Review: Schuyler Kaufman writes in a way that makes me feel like I was a part of each scene. I felt as if I was actually there, watching and listening to everything that was happening (from being on the movie set with everyone to being alone with only his letters to his daughter for company). Many of the scenes seemed quite familiar to me. For example, in the hospital room when the three women trash one of Matt's old movies and Matt walks in on it, I laughed and laughed as this is the type of thing I love to do with my best friend.In addition, the way she writes dialogue, I could easily hear the differences between different people's speech. For instance, when Pike, who is retired from NYPD, works with Quin, a local inspector, the clash of dialects makes their conversations that much more interesting and fun to read. Not to mention Kaufman's dry sense of humor, which worms its way even into the darkest scenes. When I read the book, I felt as if I were in Matt's head. Kaufman gives him his own individual expressions and ways of speaking. I love the way he exaggerates. For example, in the police interrogation scene he says, "The questions went on for several millennia;" or when the director complains that Matt doesn't act enough like a star, Matt replies, "Geez. I thought you wanted an actor, not a media event." Another thing that I really like about the book is its realism. Coming from a family that has suffered divorces, I found the way Kaufman portrayed the children to be right on target. In addition, it was refreshing to become familiar with a caring and loving father who is not a "deadbeat dad." The events and circumstances kept the mysteries lively, and kept me guessing throughout the book. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who likes a good mystery with terrific characters. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: the conection
Review: This book was amazing. Lately I haven't been reading that much on the fiction scale, but it caught my attention. Dear Mouse, has special meaning to me. Not only was it a so-called Christmas present, but one of the caractors takes on my name. I was able to connect with this book. Recently I lost my son so the emotions were there that were triggered by this mans loss. It was always my feelings that I could still write notes to him even though he couldnt read. I was also enchanted by the way Schuyler was able to give each caractor their own personality. It made the book that much more interesting. Usually I guess what is going to happen in a book, then when I find out I was right,I dont want to read anymore. Towards the end when I find out what is going on, I couldnt put it down. I HAD to find out what happened to that adorable little girl. It was a great book. There are now about four people waiting in line to read my copy. They are all itching to find out what happens. I would recomend this book to anyone looking for a little mystery that isnt too gory. Great reading material. Ms. Kaufman keep up the good work, and stop by our TA any time.
shannon
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