Invited to plan a wedding, Jane and her friend Shelly, discover that there is supposedly a treasure on the grounds of the hunting lodge venue. The elderly seamstress is murdered with no suspect and no apparent motive. The bride hesitates but consents but the groom is murdered. Rather confused.

Jane Jeffry was asked to plan a wedding to be held at an old hunting lodge which was a former monastery. The bride was the only daughter of a very overbearing business owner. Jane convinced her best friend to come along and help out. The first day at the lodge had Jane very busy with the florist, caterer, cranky old relatives, unfinished bridesmaids' dresses, and surreptitious treasure hunting of a supposedly hidden treasure. That night a big storm knocked out the electricity. The next morning there was a dead body on the stairs. Jane and Shelley continued the wedding planning duties as the bride and her guests were soon to arrive. But, had the person simply tripped and fallen down the steps, or had something more sinister happened? This was another fun fast read. Churchill's writing never disappoints me. ( )

I love a wedding themed cozy and A Groom with a View has everything from the initial planning to the reception. Unfortunately, it is also hugely predictable. The killer was obvious when first introduced, well before anyone was murdered. You didn't know who was going to die or why, but it was certain that one specific person was going to be behind it.

A Groom with a View focuses on Jane, Shelley and the wedding. Mel shows up later, but none of the kids were present. There was no domesticity like most of the other books, which I didn't mind but may disappoint fans who enjoy watching Jane juggle single motherhood and murder investigations.

The concept of the mystery was solid and the reasons behind the murder were creative, yet convincing. Nothing could save this book from mediocrity because we could never get in Jane's shoes and try to sleuth out the killer. Knowing how things would turn out throughout the book with the only surprise being the reasons behind the murder makes A Groom with a View less than thrilling. ( )

January 28, 2000
A Groom With a View (A Jane Jeffry Mystery)
Jill Churchill

Although I’ve read a couple of Churchill’s (not her real name) Jane Jeffry books before, it’s not one of my favorite series because it centers around a suburban mom’s life: Jane is a housewife and mother of three living in the ‘burbs, and most of the stories center around that. An okay read once in a while, remarkably similar to Valerie Wolzien’s Susan Crenshaw character, so I pick one up every now and then. I bought this one – brand new hardcover version from Amazon – because of what I thought the setting was.

Jane is planning a wedding for someone – a rich girl with a rich daddy – at a “remote, falling down old monastery-turned-hunt club” in the country somewhere. Everyone arrives a day or so before the wedding, and then, my very favorite thing! – a dark and violent storm knocks the power out and someone (the procrastinating seamstress, actually) ends up dead from a wicked fall down the stairs.

The synopsis on the book flap and on the Amazon site bills it as a “gothic, dark and stormy night” tale, but in my opinion the “dark and stormy night” thing was not played up to nearly the level I expected. It’s a fairly small part of the overall story, when what I hoped for was for pretty much the entire story to take place during the dark and stormy night – kinda like the tv remake of The Spiral Staircase. As tacky as that was, I loved the concept.

Still, it was a decent read, and maybe even a re-read someday. By the way, Churchill is famous for her pun-nish titles: others are A Knife to Remember, The Merchant of Menace, Silence of the Hams, War and Peas, A Quiche Before Dying, etc. ( )

I may or may not have read this book. I don't remember.