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Susan Moody Death Takes a Hand
Otto Penzler Books 1994 188340200X / 9781883402006 First Edition Hardcover Very Good
188340200X 188340200X First American edition. From Publishers Weekly Veteran Moody ( House of Moons and the Penny Wanawake series) enlivens her traditional English cozy with a welcome new heroine. Cassie Swann, 30-year-old instructor at a Winter Bridge Weekend in a country hotel, discovers three students dead at their table and sneaks a peek at their hands before calling the police. Cassie, a constant dieter cursed with a Rubenesque form and no luck in love, considers the guests who assembled at the welcoming party the night before, but she can't imagine who might have wielded the blunt instrument that did in the spiteful Sonia Wetherhead (the elderly Colonel and Mrs. Plumpton are determined to have died of simultaneous natural causes). When the next weekend convenes with many of the same (surviving) participants, another old woman dies in her bed. Moody is cagey with her cast of suspects, including a famous author, an editor and a smooth-talking wine merchant named Casaubon. When Cassie isn't teaching bridge or trying to find out who's threatening her new career, she thinks guiltily about desserts and love, fending off the propositions of another student whom she--with yet more guilt--finds crudely proletarian. Adeptly mining laughs from the milieu, Moody leads her likable sleuth to a solution and the promise of success in both business and love. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Moody's latest is the ultimate British cozy. Cassie Swann, girls' biology teacher turned professional bridge instructor, has always been a large sort of person (think snowy bosoms and marble thighs, she encourages herself), but that doesn't stop her from teaching bridge to eager students at posh, country-hotel "Bridge Weekends." Imagine Cassie's horror when three of her students are murdered during one such weekend, and a fourth corpse turns up a month later. Since Cassie is the common factor in the murders, hotel managers suddenly begin canceling future bridge weekends. Cassie is so indignant at the injustice that she vows to find the real murderer so that she can clear her name and avoid returning to biology hell: frogs, formaldehyde, and moony-eyed adolescents. Although the story suffers from occasional weaknesses common to cozies--slow pacing and a formulaic plot--its sheer charm, wit, and warmth more than compensate. And best of all, there's Cassie Swann, who faces real-life difficulties (like being "circumferentially challenged") with a wonderfully ironic sense of humor. Emily Melton
Price:
1.69 USD
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