All Hallows' Evil (A Susan Henshaw Mystery #4) - Softcover

Although I now live in New York City, there's a lot I can identify with in Valerie Wolzien's mysteries. Valerie's portraits of small towns and suburban communities remind me of my youth -- and I suspect they strike a similar chord with all those readers who live (or used to) far from urban centers. Also, Valerie's novels are like comfort food in a way -- because they are, in part, celebrations of holidays and happy social occasions (weddings, birthday parties, family vacation trips) . . . plus the mandatory addition of homicidal doings. Valerie is now writing two series with two different amateur sleuths -- suburban housewife Susan Henshaw (MURDER AT THE PTA LUNCHEON is her first appearance) and businesswoman Josie Pigeon (who started solving murders in SHORE TO DIE). I heartily recommend anything Valerie Wolzien writes.

--Joe Blades, Associate Publisher

The two Halloween murders in Wolzien's ( An Old Faithful Murder ) pedestrian mystery are far from gory or even startling, and the novel's central characters remain inconceivably fearless after the killings in their midst. The first indication that something is amiss in Hancock, Conn., comes when housewife Susan Henshaw happens upon a dying man with a knife stuck in his chest at the town library; a second corpse, that of a TV anchorman who worked with the first victim, is found in his yard shortly afterward. Amateur sleuth Susan, who's buddy-buddy with local cops, interrogates librarians who might provide clues, noses around crime scenes and plays host to the anchor's gorgeous, bereaved wife, an anchor herself. Early on, it seems that the widow is after Susan's husband; he dotes on her, and Susan pines for a handsome bachelor detective, but these tasty possibilities inexplicably evaporate, as if Wolzien changed her mind about her characters without bothering to revise her story accordingly. Any suspense generated by the murders dissolves in holiday gaiety; overall, unbelievable elements outweigh credible ones here.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.