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Title: Suture Self by Mary Daheim ISBN: 0-380-81561-3 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 08 January, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.92 (12 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Probably the weakest....
Comment: I read both series written by Mary Daheim and I have to say, right away, that I prefer the Alpine Mysteries to this series, Bed-and-Breakfast. This series tends toward too much silliness at times and there also tends to be too many deaths in each one (Snow Place to Die, for example, was right up there on par with a slasher movie). As well, some of the guests in this series lean toward stereotypical cartoons rather than characters. That being said, this book falls right in line with the others of the series, perhaps a little worse than most of the previous ones. Both Judith and her cousin Renie are in the hospital for operations when a murder occurs, following two suspicious deaths having already taken place. The mystery in this one is fairly easy to solve and the pacing is slow - it would take a really strong writer to make a full-length novel that takes place almost entirely in one hospital room seem exciting. I found myself more interested in the personal progress of Judith's life - will Mike finally find out that Joe is his father, not Dan? How is Gertrude's progress into senility?
I rate this one 2 stars as it is less than average for this series. Have to say that I am more looking forward to the next Alpine mystery much more than the the next one in this series, "Silver Scream."
Rating: 2
Summary: This one is a flatliner...
Comment: Suture Self begins with two sleuthing cousins scheduled for surgery at Good Cheer Hospital. Two famous people have already ended up dead and a third expires as the cousins recuperate. There were so many weakneses in this story that when I put the book down it was hard to pick up again. First, it's unlikely that strangers would stream into their room to fill them in on things that were none of their business. Second, the drug and homeless angles were flimsy nonsense. Third, and most annoying, was that Renie person. Why would a writer, having the power to create likeable characters in prominent positions in a story spawn something like Renie Jones? The cursing, screaming, unsympathetic attitude, etc. was WAY over the top and detracted from the weak plot. Lastly, there was no element of surprise at the end. Who didn't figure out that Jim was the killer half way through the book?
This was my introduction to this B&B series. If I read any of the others they will be checked out of my local library.
CM Miller---Author, What She Left Behind
Rating: 1
Summary: the real mystery is why anyone bought this, ever
Comment: I'm not a huge mystery fan but ... I had heard of the author and figured I'd give it a shot. Never again. Mary Daheim's writing style grated on my last nerve. The book lurches between one underdeveloped character after another, all of whom spout incredibly mannered and expository dialogue. One character, talking to her best friend in the whole world, says: "I understand that modern medicine is a mess, but it seems impossible in a country as rich and supposedly smart as the United States that we could have gotten into such a fix." No one - I repeat, NO ONE - talks that way. It's the author's voice ringing out of her character's mouth, as clanging and awkward as a broken bell.
The names of some of her characters are ludicrous. This may be a small point, but have you ever met anyone named Torchy Magee? Outside of a ... Mickey Spillane novel, I haven't either. How about Johnny Boxx (with two x's)? Or the talkative Mr. Mummy? I can see where she was trying to amuse, but the names are so ludicrous, they become distractions. You lose the thread of the narrative entirely, thinking to yourself, Torchy? Huh?
And then there was the appalling lack of fact-checking. As one reader pointed out, Mary Daheim may not know anything about hip surgery or rotator cuff replacement surgery. My complaint is that she just as obviously knows nothing about Ecstacy. It will not blind you, drive you crazy, or cause you to expire. You cannot kill someone by putting that particular "street drug", as she likes to call them, into a bottle of soda. Cocaine? Yes. Heroin? Yes. It would have been far simpler and much more realistic to have her various characters die of overdoses of drugs that would actually kill them. So why did she choose E as one of the linchpins of her novel? Maybe because of all the negative publicity about it. Maybe she wanted to be topical. She's obviously anti-narcotics, unless they're prescribed by a physician. One character tells us that all she knows about Ecstacy is that it "does terrible things" to you... then proceeds to pop a few Valium later that night when she can't sleep. ...
Fans have said this is one of Mary Daheim's weakest works, so maybe I should give her a second chance. I'd be willing to start another book by her... and just as willing to put it down after five pages if it's as horrible as this one was. ...
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Title: Snow Place to Die : A Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery by Mary Daheim ISBN: 0380785218 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: A Streetcar Named Expire by Mary Daheim ISBN: 0380800802 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Wed and Buried by Mary Daheim ISBN: 038078520X Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: Creeps Suzette by Mary Daheim ISBN: 0380800799 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Auntie Mayhem by Mary Daheim ISBN: 0380778785 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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