Book Review: Hanging Hannah

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Hanging Hannah     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Evan Marshall
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Cozy   Cats
Series: Jane Stuart # 2
Kensington, May 2000, $20.00, 322 pp.

People's Magazine heralds Jane Stuart as North Jersey's Miss Marple for solving the case of the missing nanny. Owner of the Kenneth Stuart Literary Agency, Jane has no aspirations to a sleuthing career, but her reputation makes her a crime magnet. When a stranger is murdered, the shocked citizens of Shady Hills expect their local "private investigator" Jane to uncover the truth. Jane has a personal interest in this crime since her son discovered the body and the victim was seen hanging around the inn owned by Jane's friend Louise.

When the police question Louise's philandering husband Ernie, the innkeeper asks Jane to help solve the murder. Reluctantly, Jane agrees to conduct some inquiries although she is becoming romantically involved with the lead investigator. Her professional job also turns complicated when she agrees to handle Goddess, a female Fabio, as a client. However, Goddess' editor is killed during a publishing bash given for another of Jane's clients. Jane realizes she now needs to solve these homicides fast or she will become a media event again.

Life parallels art in this amusing and entertaining amateur sleuth mystery. The author, like his protagonist is a literary agent residing in a small New Jersey village and knows first hand how to deal with authors and publishing houses. This experience is firmly focused in Jane's professional life so that readers have an up close and personal look into the publishing world. Winky, the feline owner of the Stuart family, provides humorous relief from the high-tension environment and will be adored by animal lovers who read this mystery. HANGING HANNAH is a humorous who-done-it that captures the essence of modern day living in a small town amidst the BosWash megalopolis.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner