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Summary
Author Notes
Mystery author Ellen Hart was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in August 1949. She received a B. A. in Theology from the Ambassador College in Pasadena, California. She writes the Jane Lawless and the Sophie Greenway series. Five of the Jane Lawless books have won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery. She has also won the Minnesota Book Award for Best Crime Fiction twice. She currently lives in Minneapolis with her life partner.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In the fifth superior Jane Lawless mystery, St. Paul theater director Cordelia Thorn and five old college chums from the '70's rally to help a sixth, alcoholic actress Diana Stanwood: they are going to visit Diana's new theater in Wisconsin and, with the help of a therapist, persuade Diana to enter a clinic. But, as Cordelia observes, ``something isn't right.'' Much of what's wrong swirls around Theo Donati, an enigmatic classmate who spent seven years in prison for impersonating an IRS agent back in college. He is the object of Diana's unexplained hostility; his presence sends a ripple through the shaky marriage of Curt and Annie Whittig (Theo and Curt were once lovers); and a barroom brawl erupts between him and former roommate Orson Albern. When Theo dies of apparently ``natural'' causes, Cordelia summons Jane to help investigate. Hart (A Killing Cure) sends Jane and Cordelia, who are lesbians but not lovers, through an absorbing plot that is driven by romantic and competitive connections that convincingly cross genders. A finale with a twist surprises while staying fully in keeping with what has gone before. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
In Minneapolis restaurateur and sleuth Jane Lawless' new caper, stage director Cordelia Thorn summons her to a small Wisconsin town to help sort through a reunion gone sour and a questionable death. Six college friends who have all gone their own ways in the theater had gathered to persuade alcoholic ex-soap star Diana Stanwood to get treatment. One of their number, an ex-con, died after dinner, and Jane uncovers hidden motives among the others that point to murder. Add to the pot a stealthy spinster housekeeper who turns up everywhere, an ominous figure in a Cadillac lurking on the periphery, a question about the disappearance of a wine bottle partaken of only by the deceased, and the puzzling clue hidden in Beau Geste, and Hart's fifth Lawless mystery, while it doesn't have the snap and crackle of Vital Lies and A Killing Cure, does have more than enough plot to please old fans and snare new ones. ~--Marie Kuda
Kirkus Review
Twenty years after their graduation from the University of Minnesota, the half-dozen members of the Shevlin Underground, a theater troupe notorious for their intimacy on- and offstage at school, are invited by imperious Diana Stanwood, the most famous Shevlin alumna, to a reunion at her playhouse in Wisconsin. Diana is too busy snapping at all her old friends--and acting out her rage against fellow Shevlin Theo Donati for outing her recently--to notice that the other Shevlins plan to take advantage of the meeting for a show of tough-love solidarity that will force her into life-saving treatment for her alcoholism. Before her friends can gang up on Diana, however, Theo collapses and dies. His surviving friends--rival actor Orson Albern, drama prof Annie Whittig, her underemployed husband Curt Whittig, and Cordelia Thorn, artistic director of her own repertory theater--realize how little they know about him. Ever since he was arrested for impersonating an IRS officer in college and went to jail rather than offer a defense, a curtain's fallen over Theo's life; nobody even knows where he's been living or what he's been doing for a living. Luckily, Cordelia's pal Jane Lawless (A Killing Cure, 1993, etc.) is soon on hand to sort out sexual preferences (much in evidence, though of dubious relevance to the plot) and propound an ingenious, unbelievable solution. Macbeth played out by understudies for The Big Chill. But if you can look past the flatulent platitudes about life and love, the mystery's not half bad.
Library Journal Review
Artistic director Cordelia Thorn and four of her former college coterie-all theater majors-plan an "intervention" for the sixth member of their group: alcoholic friend Diana, who has opened a playhouse in Summer Green, Wisconsin. When one of their number dies at the table, suspicious Cordelia calls upon astute sleuth (and lesbian restaurateur) Jane Lawless for help. Heated interrogations and frantic surveilling apparently bring them no closer to the truth; meanwhile, Diana continues to indulge. Hart (A Killing Cure, LJ 9/1/93) reveals herself to be a fine author as she deftly handles this sexually diverse batch of characters, rural setting, and focused plot. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
