Rating: 
Summary: Back to the Future
Review: "Long Time No See" is a sequel of sorts to "Compromising Positions" with heroine Judy Singer 20 (!) years older, widowed and adorned with a PhD. She's still on Long Island, thankfully financially "comfortable" (I couldn't bear for Judy to be poor), and girlishly romantic.As always, Ms. Isaacs is witty, clever and frequently hilarious. Her detailed take on victim Courtney is at once brilliant and hauntingly familiar of over-achievers we have known. The plot is cunning, and I guarantee you will have a hard time getting ahead of the author. I could have done without the resurrection of the 20-years dead affair with policeman Nelson Sharpe. Judy is surely too smart to get hooked up with a multi-married, none-to-faithful, uninteresting guy. For this I have to subtract a star. "Long Time No See" is a fast entertaining read, not as brilliant as my favorite "After All These Years," but nonetheless, a lot of fun. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A new friend
Review: "Long Time No See," was my first introduction to Susan Isaacs and her captivating down-home-familiar writing style. Shadowing her warm and clever homemaker wannabe-detective leads to a delightful and humorous escape from life's routine. This book had just the right mix of drama, suspense and romance. A good read for both mystery and romance readers.
Beverly J Scott author of Righteous Revenge
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Summary: IT'S ABOUT TIME!
Review: As a mystery author with my debut novel in its initial release, I have been waiting quite awhile for Susan Isaacs to write another mystery featuring Long Islander Judith Singer. It's been twenty years since Judith's last appearance in COMPROMISING POSITIONS, and LONG TIME NO SEE is well worth the wait. Much has changed in Judith's life since she solved that dentist's murder. She's raised two kids, become a widow when her husband died as a marathon man, and earned a Ph.D. While she's teaching college, she remains essentially unfulfilled. Then former investment banker and current Long Island housewife Courtney Logan is murdered. Courtney, everyone's idea of a perfect soccer mom, turns out to have had some secrets. Her husband, Greg, is connected to the mob through his father. When Phil Lowenstein, the late Courtney's father-in-law, offers to hire Judith to investigate the death, Judith is more than ready, despite a warning from the police detective who is her former lover, to take on the case. Judith launches her investigation, and Ms. Isaacs spins a fine tale. It is an enjoyable read, and I can barely wait another twenty years for the next Susan Isaacs mystery featuring Judith Singer.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable return of amateur sleuth Judith Singer
Review: Fifty-four years old St. Elizabeth College adjunct professor Judith Singer wonders why highly successful Courtney Logan vanished. The police and the Shorehaven Beacon believe the husband of the missing person killed her though no concrete evidence points towards him. Knowing how much she struggled with her perfect husband Bob until he died after running the New York Marathon two years ago, Judith is curious as to what happened to her neighbor.
Mobster Fancy Phil Lowenstein, father of the prime suspect, demands Judith find evidence clearing his son. Before she can start her investigation, former lover (pre Bob), Lieutenant Nelson Sharp of the Nassau County Police Department, tells Judith to stay out of the investigation. Still Judith is unable to resist looking into the disappearance of the perfect woman and supermom, perhaps because Courtney seems like a distaff Bob. Judith takes a different approach than that of the police thinking that the best starting point is from the overall character of the victim not the spouse.
After two decades Susan Isaacs provides her fans with the return of Judith, star of COMPROMISING POSITIONS, a novel I cannot remember whether I read or not, but plan to do so. LONG TIME NO SEE engages the reader due to Judith, a baby boomer struggling with growing old and a renewed interest in her former lover though like many novels in this sub-genre the reason to turn sleuth seems stretched. The story line is fun though the final confession meanders way too long. Still the audience will enjoy this tale and look forward to the Professor's next appearance. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: Long Time - She's Back!
Review: Finally, Judith Singer is back;twenty years older,her children adults. She,widowed for two years, now has her PhD and teaches History in college. She also faces boredom. When she hears a news report about the body of missing Courtney Logan turning up in her own swimming pool,it starts anew her spark of interest in crime solving.She is hired by Fancy Phil,the Mafia king-pin father-in-law of Courtney,to help absolve his son, Greg, of the crime. What follows is an account of her delving further and further into this case she has created for herself, apart from the police. Judith's old police detective lover,Nelson Sharp, is once again upon the scene, although his promotion has left him uninvolved in this crime. He is able to offer her some help with her search however.Their passion is once again rekindled. Working on her own, she manages to do what the police either can't or won't do, bringing the case to an exciting close in the final pages.Susan Isaacs has managed to give all the characters both depth and reality.She gives Judith such sharp wit that you can't help smiling throughout the entire book, in spite of the fact it is a mystery. Susan Sarandan played Judith in "Compromising Positions." We can only hope that this is made into a film with her again playing Judith. We can also hope that we don't have to wait until Judith is again twenty years older - rather a latter -day Miss Marple - to have her again appear in a book. This is a well written,humerous,fast-paced book, with interesting, believable characters and great plot.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for an Isaacs Devotee.... BUT.
Review: First, let me say that After All These Years and Shining Through, two books by this author, are two of my favorite books in life... very high praise from an English teacher and natural lifelong voracious reader. While this sequel to Compromising Positions does somewhat satiate my desire for witty and vibrant Isaacs writing, it leaves me wistful. With this book, Isaccs does her ribald, creative, liberal thing... but like heroine Judith Singer, she's now somewhat predictably paced, a little too readily familiar, and -- dare I say it? -- just a touch YAWN. Is this author running out of ideas? Must she resort to the vague glimmers of already-told anecdotes and slightly faded allusions? I could almost say Judith's lines with her in this reprise of Compromising Positions... and I figured out the who-done-it well before the end (read After All These Years if you want an amazingly witty murder mystery by this woman... it's a much better illustration of what she can do!). Don't get me wrong, the mystery itself is terrific, with a powerful punch at the end, when the evil villain emerges. So why does it fail to totally satisfy? I wish the author had saved this idea for a stimulating NEW heroine... someone not quite so liberal, not quite so Semitic, not quite so like all her other heroines. Someone like... Cass, in After All These Years. She's highly intelligent, she's well educated, she's affluent, she's conservative, she's black, she's DIFFERENT. Oh, and with Nelson, the heroine's adulterous partner in days gone by, expect little of their initial forbidden lustful thrill... Nelson is older, too. It's nice that these two post-menopausal, pre-Medicare folks gained their long-awaited closure, but then I doubt that Judith would either need or much benefit from a twice married, thrice fathered cop-boyfriend, despite Isaacs's efforts to establish Judith's loneliness as a widow and emptiness with "only" her Ph.D. and two grown, successful children. Most people would have it so good. Anyway, it's a good -- if not totally fulfilling -- read if you're a devoted Isaacs fan... if you're not yet, don't let this book try to turn you on to her. But read After All These Years. Read Shining Through. Don't watch the movie! Seriously! You'll LOVE them.
Rating:
Summary: Long Time No FUN
Review: How could prominent Long Island investment banker Courtney Logan disappear into thin air? That is the question that haunts Judith Singer. Well, that question gets answered, and quick, because Courtney is found, well her body anyway, at the bottom of a pool. Now the question haunting Judith is: Who would KILL prominent Long Island investment banker Courtney Logan? After twenty years Judith Singer is back. She is a widow, and she is teaching history at St. Elizabeth's College, but she still has a nose for sleuthing? Or does she? Putting together a list of suspects, that range from Courtney's handsome husband Greg, to her father in-law "Fancy Phil", Judith is putting herself in grave danger, for someone wants to keep their secrets hidden, even if it means murder. To further complicate matters Judith is going to need the help of Nelson Sharpe, a cop, and former lover that she can't get out of her system, and that can't be good since the two must together to solve the crime. It has been many years since readers have seen Judith Singer, and the long wait turns out to be very disappointing. The mystery in this novel takes the backseat to the telling of what has been going on in Judith's life. As well as,the in-depth descriptions of Greg, his wacky father "Fancy Phil", their business', Courtney, her relationship with her husband, accusations of infidelity and so on, and so on. Things get too complicated, and confusing, resulting in a mystery that's not much fun. Being a big fan of Susan Isaacs I couldn't wait for her new mystery 'Long Time No See', but much to my surprise, her trademark mix of witty dialogue, engrossing plot, and fast-pacing are missing here, and the "mystery" falls flat by becoming boring. Nick Gonnella
Rating: 
Summary: Worldview: Morally Bankrupt
Review: I always want to finish reading a book once I start but I don't know if I can make it with this one - there is just one idiot comment after another that is supposed to be funny. Maybe you are supposed to be over the age of 50 to get the humor. The story line is slow and just goes downhill as I continue to read. I am 3/4 of the way through and could really care less "whodunnit".
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Summary: Boring, annoying and trying to make it to the end!
Review: I always want to finish reading a book once I start but I don't know if I can make it with this one - there is just one idiot comment after another that is supposed to be funny. Maybe you are supposed to be over the age of 50 to get the humor. The story line is slow and just goes downhill as I continue to read. I am 3/4 of the way through and could really care less "whodunnit".
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Summary: Judith Singer Is Back...As Witty, And Ingenious As Ever!
Review: I am a big fan of Susan Isaacs. Her wit and wonderful characters are always winners in my book! I think Ms. Isaacs was at her best with "Compromising Positions," and "Almost Paradise." So I was happy to pick up a copy of "Long Time No See," which reintroduces her readers to Judith Singer, from "Compromising Positions," twenty years after the original intro. Apart from my eagerness to read this new novel, and to find out how Judith has fared, I looked forward to discover how Judith has aged, being a contemporary of hers, and to see if we still have things in common. ;) Judith, now a widow for two years, has earned her doctorate in history and teaches at a local upscale college. She has mourned her husband, who though not the love of her life, was a much loved companion. She hasn't seen the love of her life, Homicide Detective Nelson Sharpe for twenty years. At their last meeting they made a mutual vow never to meet again. Nelson, however, lurks in Judith's mind, never far from her thoughts. The now Dr. Singer has never lost the "detective bug" either, which she picked up in "Compromising Positions." When a local mother of two, Courtney Logan, suddenly disappears, the mystery peaks her interest. When Courtney's body is found, weeks later, in the family's covered pool, Judith's long suppressed detective instincts, chomp at the bit! Desperate for accurate information about the homicide, Judith actually knocks at the Logan's door and questions the uncommunicative, grieving husband, Greg Logan. What chutzpah! Logan's father, the renowned, very gauche, and dangerous gangster, Philip "Fancy Phil" Lowenstein, hears about Judith's visit, and pays her a visit himself. Yoiks! Actually, Lowenstein hires our "would-be sleuth" informally, to see what she can discover. The Nassau Police believe that his son Greg is the murderer, and have not made much of an effort to find another perp. "Fancy Phil" remembers Judith's effectiveness from "Compromising Position" days and hopes she will come up with some helpful clues...or maybe an answer to "who done it." The mystery is a good one with some surprises. Romantic sparks fly with the reappearance of Nelson Sharpe. And Ms. Isaacs' wit is as sharp as ever. There is nothing deep here; no gripping suspense, nor complex characters or plot. "Long Time No See" is a fun and entertaining read, however. And if you're a Susan Isaacs fan, you'll love it!
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