Average customer rating:
- Fun Foot-Dragging Captures & Conquers
- Awful Entry in an Uneven Series
- disappointing entry in this series
- Not Her Best
- Strange title, easy read
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The House of Seven Mabels (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #13)
Jill Churchill
Manufacturer: Avon Books
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Similar Items:
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A Groom with a View (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #11)
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Bell, Book, and Scandal (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #14)
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Mulch Ado About Nothing (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #12)
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The Merchant of Menace (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #10)
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Fear of Frying (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #9)
ASIN: 0380804921
Release Date: 2003-04-29 |
Book Description
"Homemaking" is about to take on a whole new meaning for Jane Jeffry, now that she's agreed to help the prosperously divorced Bitsy Burnside restore and redecorate a decrepit old neighborhood mansion. Bitsy's decision to employ an almost all-woman crew has prompted Jane's quick-witted best bud Shelley Nowack to dub the project, "the House of Seven Mabels" -- but it's also engendered some nasty ill will.
And when what begins as a series of anonymous, mean-spirited "pranks" ends up leaving one of the workwomen lying dead at the foot of a staircase, Jane and Shelley decide to try and nail the assassin. But the more Jane saws away at the truth, the more it appears that she may be painting herself into a corner, leaving herself no exit if a crafty killer decides to make Jane Jeffry the next demolition project.
Customer Reviews:
Fun Foot-Dragging Captures & Conquers.......2005-03-30
Character crankiness captures the reader as it carries through funny, foot-dragging dialogues, first featuring Jane Jeffry in soliloquy, then adding Shelley's two-cent counterpoint over coffee.
Any awareness of a reality beyond reading melts like table butter, spreading into conversations at a gourmet luncheon business meeting. Jane and Shelley had skeptically agreed to join a couple hardcore feminists to discuss participation in a construction venture. As the women try to lure Jane & Shelley into their mad project of remodeling and decorating a dilapidated mansion, the reader's taste buds are bated by Jane's descriptions of luncheon plate contents towering toward culinary pinnacles.
Churchill has an uncanny ability to write with such a flowing, lighthearted ease that her plots and characters (even when shrouded in the miasma of moodiness) skip along merrily, just two suburban housewives dining casually around danger, or shopping across a stage.
Having read some of the Amazon reviews on this book, I was ready to chuckle at Jane's sour milk mood expressing itself entertainingly through satiric sneers against certain sub-cultural agendas which prodded the sore spots in Jane's contemplations of an "empty nest" coming soon.
It doesn't take a brain-iac to catch the depth being deftly woven through themes rising crisply from the novel's title, as they surge subtly through the first few pages of Jane's cranky anticipations of adjustment to diminishing motherhood; tying into Shelley's car screeching into her driveway (seeming on two wheels); then pausing over the posh lunch with the feminists.
Jane isn't spitefully bashing hardcore feminism in this novel. She's understandably reacting viscerally to the contrast between her life passages and the pedestals which some personalities seem to have the privilege to preen and prod upon.
Churchill's style is sneaky, subtle and smooth. Love the continued slow-perk sharing of daily routines between Jane and Shelley, two friends whose personalities should clash, clamor, and clang. Instead this unlikely pair is entertained more than irritated by the other's foibles as they saunter through simple activities, or argue over committing to overwhelming projects which many women would die for but don't have the freedom, opportunities, or time to enjoy (be hired as decorators in a remodel of an old mansion? Yes!).
Churchill continues to capture with her toe-tapping of terribly touchy issues, lightly exposing the barefoot essence of pros and cons, without kicking the door down with her personal bias, a bias which is entertainingly clarified with humor through the sarcastic snips and snide asides written gracefully enough to offer no offense to un-invested readers, whatever his/her political-social prejudice.
Yet someone in the story was offended enough by something to find a cause to kill.
The way Churchill deals with hard-core feminism reminds me of a passage in Ayn Rand's ATLAS SHRUGGED in which Dagney Taggert pauses in temporary terror over tangible concerns, as she suddenly realizes that women don't run railroads. Then she recalls that she has been, in reality, running her father's industrial empire; her brother, as President, has always been a figurehead fool. Her panic discounted in a heartbeat of deduction, Dagney spits, "To hell with that," instantly emerging beyond all concerns about her gender, satisfied to C.E.O behind the scenes.
At the point of dealing most directly with this issue in Mabels, Jane asks a couple of the women carpenters if they had trouble working in a male dominated industry, to which they replied that once a contractor saw their impressive portfolios, the gender question was simply released; respect and need for competence took precedence.
The seven Mabels caricatures move through the plot in well drawn style, fleshed-out into a Norman Rockwell style of living types. The reading is easy, relaxing, and involving; the themes have depth without investing in irritating pushes toward political agendas; the mystery is suspenseful without going overboard, trying too hard to outdo the ultimate in convolutions in the genre.
Refreshing, delightful, insightful, almost as good as a simple, satisfying life, Churchill's seven Mabels paint every day reality into letters on a page, without once slipping on a banana peel into a boring passage of prose.
How does she do this; how does Jill Churchill make depth and complexity look so simple, fun, and easy!
With Awe,
Linda G. Shelnutt
Awful Entry in an Uneven Series.......2004-03-09
The Jane Jeffrey series can be pretty good--and it can positively stink. This entry is a clunker. I guess I keep reading the series for the prospect of a good book coming along; every once in a while one does. Churchill really needs to stop bragging about her parents in the diplomatic corps, and I can definitely do without her incessant snarky comments about her daughter (in contrast to her huge love for her apparently saintly sons). She also needs a better editor. Almost every dialog bit in this series begins with Shelley saying, "Jane,--" or Jane saying, "Shelley, --" This book was particularly grating in its gratuitous (and passe) attack on feminism, which Churchill apparently regards as a huge farce, as she does *every* social concern. Give the woman a t.v. set and a bag of chips and she's happy! Jane Jeffrey is more trailer park than she knows.
disappointing entry in this series.......2003-09-20
This is definitely the weakest entry in this series. If you're a fan, you'll read it, but be prepared to be disappointed. The story is weak and formulaic, the mystery is contrived, the characters don't seem as likable as before. Even the title seems to be trying too hard. Hopefully, if this series continues, the next entry won't be such a paint-by-number effort.
Not Her Best.......2003-08-17
A typical book in this series, with Jane and Shelley occupying their time by solving a mystery.
However, while there were a lot of suspects, the ending came way too quickly, in about two paragraphs. And the confrontation only lasted about two sentences.
Definitely not the best in this usually entertaining series.
Strange title, easy read.......2003-08-13
I have liked the character Jane Jeffrey and her pal and neighbor Shelley. And this is an easy read with the comfort of known characters growing older and progressing as individual women who still find a home and family to be a good center. The mystery here is not such a big suspenseful draw, just the involvement of the two friends in a possible money-making scheme, ring led by Shelley, with Jane along for the ride, and maybe the profit. The plot revolves around this would-be job and the unusual, almost all woman crew of renovators who are already on the payroll. But the vandalism of the site and the one murder take a gentle route to solution. This is no great puzzler, much less suspenseful horror. Rather domestic in its scope.
Jane's interaction with her children and their maturation, her comfortable relationship with detective Mel, her entry into the real computer age and her developing novel, make for a fast and easy diversion.
This is not the best of Churchill. In fact, mystery is just coincidental to the plot, it seems. But I do think it is good enough to divert the mind from the frustrations of the world for a while.
Product Description
Library Edition, quarter leather, dark blue w/yellow decorated boards, Illustrated with drawings.
Customer Reviews:
Home Repair Can Be Murder!.......2006-07-25
The 13th book in the Jane Jeffrey shows Jane and her best friend Shelley Nowack at work again. These two suburban mothers are asked to help old friend, Bitsy, renovate/redecorate her Victorian home and the two, looking for something to ease their boredom, agree to help. It seems that Bitsy only wants female contractors working on the house, and when Jane and Shelley show up, they realize that the lead contractor is a bit too demanding. When she ends up dead, Jane and Shelley once again are determined to find a killer. Add to this the fact that all of the renovations are going wrong (with a prankster adding to the mess), and Jane again finds herself in a situation she feels she has to "fix".
I have enjoyed each of the books in this series more for the relationships between the characters rather than the suspense of the mysteries. This was a good addition to the series, and I like the fact that Jane is becoming more independent (she keeps working on her book) and actually buys herself and her son computers. If Jane would only buy herself a new car, she would be all set! On the whole, I would recommend reading this book if you enjoy cozy mysteries even if you have not read any of the previous books in this series.
The first book in this series is "Grime and Punishment". Enjoy!
Product Description
Hardbacks
Product Description
7 Titles By Jill Churchill Jane Jeffry Series : Grime and Punishment The Class Menagerie A Knife to Remember Fear of Frying The Merchant of Menace The House of Seven Mabels Bell, Book, and Scandal. seven mmpb books.
Book Description
The national bestselling saga of Robert Silverberg's stunning imagination continues in the first new hardcover Majipoor novel in nearly a decade. As a prequel to Silverberg's earlier Majipoor novels. Sorcerers of Majipoor provides a deep, dark vision for the background of the conflict inLord Valentine's Castle and Valentine Pontifex.
Treachery and wizardry run rampant under the reign of the mighty Pontifex, as both the rightful and the unworthy heirs to the throne anxiously await his demise. Korsibar, son of the current Coronal, plots with his twin sister and ambitious companions to seize the power of the Coronal when his father ascends to the throne of the Pontifex.
But the burdens of the crown and scepter exact more of a price than Korsibar is prepared to pay. His rival fights to take his appointed place as keeper of his beloved Majipoor...and to resbackse order to the utter chaos that has befallen their world.
"Silverberg has created a big planet, chock-a-block with life and potential sbacksies." -- The Washing Post
Download Description
The bestselling science fantasy saga that began with Lord Valentine's Castle, continues in Majipoor Chronicles, as the young street urchin Hissune gets his due for helping Lord Valentine regain his throne. As a reward, he is sent into the depths of the Labyrinth?a massive library of memory cubes in which the entire history of Majipoor is preserved. As he prepares for a summons to return to Castle Mount, he relives the lives of Majipoor's most famous and notorious inhabitants, learning more about the people and his new land than anyone else in the kingdom.
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
The second Majipoor book is basically an anthology, wrapped inside the actions of the character Hissune. As part of his training for government, he has access to the Soul Record on Majipoor, and hence can look into the stories of some of its citizens, and does so.
These stories from the Majipoor Chronicles.
Fables of Majipoor.......2004-07-15
Robert Silverberg has created in Majipoor one of the most interesting and fantastic worlds of science-fiction/fantasy literature. Those who have read "Lord Valentine's castle" can't help but become amazed by Majipoor's imense size, its huge cities with billions of people of many alien races, and, most of all, the enigmatic and divided system of planetary administration, where dreams and the subconscient play a great part.
Silverberg knows that, with Majipoor, he has a science-fiction mine gold in his hands. "Majipoor chronicles" is the second book in the Majipoor series, but can be read before "Lord Valentine's castle". Through eleven stories, some short, some a little longer, Silverberg explores many aspects of Majipoor: the relationship between the humans and the alien races, the huge geography of the planet, the influence of the King of Dreams, and other sociological elements. Sex, power, greed, nature, everything plays a part in Silverberg's simple but compelling tales, and in the end the reader is rewarded with a collection of fable-like stories concerning Silverberg's greatest creation.
I think the Majipoor series is one of the greatest in this genre of literature, and certainly one of my favorites. Silverberg has created a world with the right amount of science and fantasy blended together, and that's not an easy task.
Grade 9.0/10
A fun book to read that provides a lot of background.......2004-01-13
The Majipoor Chronicles are basically just a series of short stories based on events of the past on Majipoor. Together, these stories really bring to life this fantastic world in the mind of the reader. The events transcribed in this book occured over a long range of time (~9,000 years I think) and provide insights into the way of life in many different times and places. While non of the stories deserve a 4 star rating standing alone, all of them together get the mark because of the extraordinary amount of insight they provide about Silverberg's world.
Absolutely Wonderful.......2003-06-01
I stumbled across this second book in the Majipoor series, and read it before I read the other books in the series. What an introduction! When Silverberg is on, there is no greater science fiction/fantasy writer, which is, obviously, high praise indeed.
After letting this book sit on the shelf a few years, I lent it out to a 'friend'. Of course, I never got it back, so I had to hunt it down again. And when I got it for the second time, I thought I'd leaf through it again. A week of intermittent reading later, I finished it for the second time. It was not a disappointment. Wow. This is as good as SF gets.
Highly recommended.
Second Majipoor book fills in some gaps left by the 1st..........2003-01-10
A collection of short stories, Silverberg uses this book as a way to fill in or explore some historical gaps left in his first Majipoor novel. As with any collection of short stories, some will delight you, others will leave you flat, and some won't affect you at all. I can't honestly say that I disliked any of the stories contained within, but I definately liked some more than others. I especially enjoyed how the author continually reminded us that things didn't always happen the way the history books say they did. If only we had a Register of Souls here on earth!
Looking at the other reviews, I would say that I am not as enthusiastic about these novels as other people, but I don't hate them either. I have only read the first three so far, but I feel that some of the shortcomings pointed out by others (i.e., poorly developed characters, over simplistic plots, etc.) do have validity, but I feel that the good points of the books far outweigh the bad. In the Majipoor novels Silverberg makes us confront some of the darker aspects of mankind and grapple with our response to them. I liked the second book the most out of the first three. Try it, and see what you think!
Average customer rating:
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Majipoor Chronicles
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000I17GSK |
Average customer rating:
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Majipoor Chronicles
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000I18UZ8 |
Average customer rating:
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Majipoor Chronicles
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books | Adventure | Alternate History | Anthologies | General | Graphic Novels | High Tech | History & Criticism | Series | Short Stories | Space Opera
ASIN: 9994502794 |
Average customer rating:
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Majipoor Chronicles
Robert Silverberg
Manufacturer: Pan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Anthologies | British | Canadian | General | United States
Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books | Alternate History | Anthologies | Arthurian | Contemporary | Epic | General | Historical | History & Criticism | Magic & Wizards | Series
Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books | Adventure | Alternate History | Anthologies | General | Graphic Novels | High Tech | History & Criticism | Series | Short Stories | Space Opera
ASIN: 0330281178 |
Customer Reviews:
Yet Another Clasic by Strasser.......2001-11-05
The principal at Burp-It-Up Middle school has decided to buy some vending machines. The fact that this will definately fire some lunch ladies doesn't bother Andy, Josh, and Jake the slightest bit... until they accidently switch bodies...with the lunch ladies. The kids are stuck doing the gross job of serving the sludge to kids, while the lunch ladies in THEIR bodies, make complete idiots out of Andy, Josh, and Jake, by playing hop scotch, etc. Will they ever get their bodies back???
Sweet Book !!!!.......2001-04-11
This is a great book by Tood Strasser. READ THIS IMMEADIATELY !!!!!!!!!!! From the detentions to the dishes. This is a absolute great novel! --Jarrett Nave, Haile Middle
Oh My Golly.......2000-12-27
Oh My Golly this was a Great Book. It is very funny and it is really silly and i liked it a lot. this is a Good Help Book. So read it.
Super! Todd Strasser does it again!.......2000-12-23
It was one of the best HELP! I've read so far. As usual Jake & his friends swiched body's on the D.I.T.S. again, but this time with Lunch Ladys! When Vend-A-Lunch comes to Burp It Up Middle School the Vend-A-Lunch machines threaten to take over the Lunch Ladys jobs. When the school cast a vote of what to have stay and this is the results....wait I can't tell you you'll have to buy the book and find out. It's a great book for kids around my age-10.
Good!.......1999-06-20
This is a very good Help! book. It was funny just as usual. It still had that funny little twist and Mr. Dirkson finally has come back from the Amazon and made a new machine that shrinks heads!
Book Description
This Benjamin Franklin award-winner is designed for busy people with good intentions and little time to cook. Target audience is families who want to eat more healthfully, as well as those with diabetes, heart disease or anyone wanting to lose weight. It is the companion to Quick & Healthy Low-fat, Carb Conscious Cooking.
SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE:
Over 180 quick-to-prepare, low-fat recipes
Five weeks of menus with corresponding grocery lists
Tips for trimming fat from your diet
Listing of common food and fat grams
Steps to determine ideal weight, calorie needs and recommended fat grams
Handy diary for keeping track of daily fat intake
Detailed nutritional analysis for each recipe, including
.....food exchanges for weight loss and diabetes
.....fiber, carbohydrate, fat, and more
Conventional and microwave directions
Exercise Tips
For people with busy lifestyles who want to eat delicious, healthy meals with minimal time in the kitchen, Quick & Healthy Volume II is a great place to begin.
Customer Reviews:
Okay, but not exactly what I was looking for.......2007-07-13
My objective was simple-fast, small amount of common ingredients, appealing meal ideas.
This book called for some strange ingredients, some of the recipes looked tedious, and I really just wasn't very attracted to any of the meal ideas in here. Not the type of food I am going to be able to get husband to eat either, so I wound up sending it back.
I have had great success so far with a few other books:
Diabetic Low-Fat & No Fat Meals in Minutes
The Busy People Series of cookbooks.
The best cookbook to own.......2007-03-08
This is the most used cookbook in my house. It features simple to find and use ingredients and all recipes are quick and tasty, not to mention quite healthy. I have given this book out as gifts to two others already and they both have given it similar reviews.
Enhanced with easy to follow low-fat menus.......2004-12-06
A superbly organized and presented introduction to low-fat, carb conscious dining, Quick & Healthy Low-fat, Carb Conscious Cooking showcases more than two hundred new and/or updated, delicious, nutritious, "heart healthy", diabetes appropriate, weight control friendly recipes. Quick & Healthy Low-fat, Carb Conscious Cooking is enhanced with easy to follow low-fat menus, detailed nutritional analysis for each recipes, tips for trimming fat and sodium from a diet, a listing of foods and their fiber content, conventional and microwave directions, time saving ideas, weight loss and exercise tips, and "Products Worth Trying". From Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip; Three Bean Soup; and Pear Salad with Raspberry Dressing"; to Low-Fat French Fries; Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole; and White Chocolate Mousse with Berries, this completely revised and updated second edition of Quick & Healthy Recipes and Ideas offers a highly recommended compendium of palate pleasing, appetitive satisfying, kitchen cook friendly recipes.
Excellent Healthy Cookbook.......2004-12-06
I have about 12 lowfat cookbooks in my collection. This cookbook and volume 1 in the series are my favorites because the recipies taste great and they are very easy to make. You will love this cookbook!
My favorite cookbook.......2003-12-23
This is the cookbook I depend on. I am a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers, and I used this book (and the other Quick and Healthy) when I was losing weight, and still use it all the time now that I am maintaining. There is enough nutritional information to calculate points. The ingredients are all readily available in our small town. You don't spend all afternoon in the kitchen. Everybody likes the result! I can't say enough good things about these books.
Books:
- The Impossible Country: A Journey Through the Last Days of Yugoslavia
- The Island of Dr. Moreau (Bantam Classics)
- The Lamplighter: A Novel
- The Mighty Orinoco (Early Classics of Science Fiction)
- The Mother of Dreams and Other Short Stories: Portrayals of Women in Modern Japanese Fiction (Japan's Modern Writers)
- The Radiance of the King (New York Review Books Classics)
- The Raging Sea: The Powerful Account of the Worst Tsunami in U.S. History
- The Scandal of Pleasure: Art in an Age of Fundamentalism
- The State of Indiana History 2000: Papers Presented at the Indiana Historical Society's Grand Opening
- The Story of My Disappearance
Books Index
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- My First Five Husbands..And the Ones Who Got Away
- The Four Adventures of Richard Hannay: The Thirty-Nine Steps/Greenmantle/Mr. Standfast/the Three Hos
- Pond Lake River Sea
- Practical Radio Frequency Test and Measurement: A Technician's Handbook
- Long Term Care Planning Guide 9th Ed. 1999
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