read 2023; gave away

Jane Jeffry is waiting to see if her first book will be accepted for publication. Her best friend Shelley has signed them up for needlepoint lessons. Shelley has volunteered to set up various catering services to provide snacks for a local college's summer theater production. Shelley wants Jane to tag along to check out the various caterers. Meanwhile things aren't going well for the play writer and director. Despite having 2 guest professional actors to bolster the local talent, there are troubles with the cast and the play itself. Then, one of the cast is found dead. Jane's significant other is in charge of the police investigation. This was a fun read with interesting quirky characters. The pace was fast, and the plot was fun with a good amount of twists and turns. ( )

The obvious theme of A Midsummer Night's Scream is the theater, but this book had a lot more going on than that. We see Jane making progress in her blossoming career as a author, Shelley testing caterers, and the the two of them taking a needlepoint class. With so many different activities going on, readers are sure to find something to grab their attentions. I may not care much about acting or needlepoint, but I loved the look at Jane's road to publication as well as the culinary aspect of the different caterers.

In A Midsummer Night's Scream, Jane and Shelley are on their home turf as they look into the death of an actor. That means finding time for the investigation while raising kids (not as much as before since the children are mostly grown). It also means more involvement from Mel, as it's his case.

The case itself is surprising. I only had the tiniest inkling who the murderer was right before they were revealed. The motive behind the murder was only slightly more obvious given earlier clues. All in all, it was a fun addition to the series. ( )

Jane Jeffry's friend, Shelley Nowack, has agreed to find caterers to provide meals for participants in a play the local community college is putting on and asks Jane to help her. Jane agrees, figuring she can work on her latest hobby, needlepoint, while watching the rehearsal. She also hopes to get some ideas for a new book that she is writing. But Jane gets more than she bargained for when an actor in the play is murdered and the janitor at the theater is attacked. Jane's longtime boyfriend, police Detective Mel van Dyne, in investigating the case and asks for Jane's help as she knows the cast and crew quite well. Jane has plenty of suspects for Mel, including the director-playwright, Steven Imry and all the cast members.

Jill Churchill's last Jane Jeffrey mystery "Bell, Book, and Scandal" was pretty bad but I had hoped that was just a one-time thing. Unfortunately, "A Midsummer Night's Scream" is almost as bad, if not worse. Outside of Jane's success as a novelist, there is no character development and the only new interesting character is Gloria Bunting. The writing is stiff and some passages, such as the needlepoint class instructions seem like they are quoted from books. The dialogue is awkward and artificial and at least once Churchill loses track of which character is speaking. Even cozy bits, such as Jane's cat catching a mole are badly written and feel forced.

The Jane Jeffry mystery series used to be a light, cozy, pleasant read and it's a shame to see the series go downhill so fast. I recommend reading the other books in the series and skipping the last two. Hopefully that the next one will be better and puts the series back on track. ( )

I use to read Jill Churchill books all the time, but stopped a few years ago because each seemed so much the same. So, I thought I would try it again. It's an easy read mystery, but leaves you wanting so much more from it. Maybe less catering info and more mystery might have helped! ( )