TEST
Brenda Joyce’s latest Francesca Cahill installment purports to be a historical mystery, but “historical soap opera” may be just as apt a description. There were so many characters to keep track of in this turn of the century whodunit, all involved in their own little (and not so little) subplots, that I often felt like diagramming it while reading, just to keep everyone and their problems straight. Nonetheless, the mystery was interesting, and mostly propelled this complex character piece, which sucked me in all the way to its rather unsatisfying end.
<!– var browName = navigator.appName; var SiteID = 1; var ZoneID = 4; var browDateTime = (new Date()).getTime(); if (browName=='Netscape') { document.write('‘); document.write(”); } if (browName!=’Netscape’) { document.write(‘‘); document.write(”); } // –> 
As the book opens, upper-crust heiress and sleuth Francesca Cahill has just hit the pages of the New York City papers for solving a dangerous murder, and apprehending the criminal with a frying pan. Apparently, the story begins immediately following the previous book, Deadly Pleasure, in which the frying pan episode actually took place. Despite the fact that she is very worried that her family will find out about her unseemly sleuthing and involvement in the dangerous murder case, Francesca had apparently given an interview to newspaper reporters the day before, and is now belatedly concerned about her family reading the story in the papers. Her solution? Hide all the papers, and Daddy will never guess. Unfortunately, such logic (interview-giving and all) is absolutely characteristic of our supposedly-brilliant heroine, who often walks the line between TSTL and insanity.
Meanwhile, she is approached by another client – she has decided to go commercial with her sleuthing – who wants Francesca to determine whether or not her husband is fooling around on her. In Francesca’s attempts to do so, she (literally) stumbles upon the dead and mutilated body of a woman who had nearly approached her two days before. Francesca immediately calls in her dear friend, Police Commissioner Rick Bragg, from whom she learns that the woman is the second of what have been dubbed the “Cross Murders” for the crosses carved into the victims’ throats. And just like that, despite the better advice of Bragg and everyone else in New York, Francesca is at the center of another criminal investigation.
At the same time, the book follows the lives and problems of the characters’ extended families. Francesca’s sister Connie is having marital difficulties, having caught her husband Neil in bed with another woman. She is also contemplating an affair with the wicked and womanizing Calder Hart, who just happens to be Bragg’s half-brother. Fran and Connie’s brother Evan is being forced to marry the shy but exquisitely talented artist Sarah Channing, but he seems much more interested in her visiting cousin, the rich Italian widow Bartolla. Bartolla has a history with Hart, and also happens to be good friends with Bragg’s estranged wife Leigh Anne. And Bragg and Francesca can barely keep their hands off each other, despite their better judgment, and that of those all around them, even including the seemingly moral-free Hart. But then Hart may just have his own reasons for wanting them apart. And speaking of Hart, we also get a glimpse into his very private life, as he has just arranged to make cultured prostitute Daisy his mistress, and exclusively his for the next six months – to the bitter consternation of Daisy’s associate and lover, Rose. And this is just the beginning.
From the very beginning, I found myself feeling the need to play “catch up” in this book. So many of the events and relationships referred to – especially early on – took place in the previous book, and it left me feeling like I had only a partial picture of what’s going on. And by the time the book wound to an end, I was frustrated to find that only a very small portion of the events and problems were wrapped up, leaving many more questions than were answered. Why did one of Fran’s clients come to her in the first place? Why had the dead woman seemed about to approach Fran earlier (before this book), and why didn’t she do so? Who committed the remaining unsolved murder? Why did one of the witnesses give such strange evidence, and what connection did it have to the murders? Will Connie and Neil be able to sort out their problems? How will Evan and Sarah escape their parents’ plans to throw them together? Will Francesca and Bragg pursue their relationship, or will she acknowledge her attraction to Hart? How will it turn out for Rose and Daisy? Since these are but a few of the questions I was left with at the cliffhanger ending, and I am all but tearing my hair out to get the answers, I would say that the book’s attempt to intrigue and ensnare the reader were definitely successful.
As for the characters, well, Francesca is certainly difficult to wholly get behind. She does things no sane woman would do, including visiting terrible areas of New York – including dockside taverns – without any protection other than her pre-adolescent assistant, Joel. And yet, nothing happens, other than a good scaring. Which, unfortunately does not deter from future brainless endeavors. Even so, she seems to be protected via divine intervention, and to some extent she grows on the reader, despite her less-than-intelligent maneuvering. Her relationship with Bragg seems to be another example of TSTL behavior, as she is aware at the beginning of this volume that he is married to someone else. Meanwhile, she is determined to ignore her chemistry with the available and far more interesting Calder Hart, whose wildness is eminently more suited to her than his stick-in-the-mud brother’s personality. All in all, the reader may be tempted to toss the book against the wall at times, out of disgust for Fran’s decisions, but the overall enthralling quality to the book and its many plots and intrigues will most likely keep it firmly in the readers hands.
While I found this book frustrating at times, and unlikely at others, I can’t deny that it had me under its spell, and, thanks to its lack of closure and ongoing plotlines, it still does. I’d recommend this most highly to readers who have enjoyed the previous books in the series, as they will no doubt feel less lost. And to those who like a good, complex story and won’t go crazy without immediate resolution, I’d have to recommend it as well. You may not end up completely satisfied, but you will be hooked.
Grade: B-
Book Type: Historical Mystery
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 25/03/02
Publication Date: 2002
Related Reviews
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.