Reviewed By Liz

ISBN 0-345-46808-2

It really annoys me when authors put their characters into positions in which they act against their best interests and expose themselves to unnecessary risks. In this book, Susan Henshaw has just become a grandmother for the first time and her daughter, son-in-law, and twin grandchildren move in with her and her husband while the daughter and son-in-law look for a new and larger apartment. And they bring with them a baby nurse thoughtfully provided for them by the other set of in-laws. Susan’s next-door neighbor takes one look at the baby nurse and realizes she is a suspect in the murder of three people at a nursing home and tells Susan right away. And what does Susan do? She watches her like a hawk for the first few hours and then bonds instantly with the nurse when she stops one of the grandchildren choking. When the next-door neighbor is murdered, she says nothing to the police, her husband or her daughter about the nurse and sees no problem leaving the children alone with the nurse. Well, good help is hard to get, you know?

No, no, no, no. NO! Adoring grandmothers do not create nurseries with hand-painted murals of fairy tales all around the room and then keep possible multiple murderers in the house. It just isn’t believable and it is very irritating. And, frankly, the plot doesn’t get any more realistic as it goes along.

I did wonder as I read this book if the author had found some way to get reimbursed for product placement. Susan and her neighbors are wealthy and she spends a lot of time shopping and admiring her neighbors’ brand name cars, clothing, kitchen appliances, etc. For example, her neighbor isn’t stabbed with just any old knife, she is killed with “the $200 Sabatier chef’s knife she had bought in France.” While I can understand that you might need to specify a few times that everything is the finest possible whatever, after a while it just becomes gratuitous name-dropping. Or maybe I am just jealous because my baby presents didn’t come from Tiffany’s, I don’t know.

The only really good thing I can say about this book is that I like Susan’s friend Kathleen. She is willing to come over and help with laundry even when they won’t let her see the new babies. She is a small part of the book, however, so skip this one.

Mystery Book Reviews by Reviewed By Liz.com ©2006