A Quiche Before Dying (A Jane Jeffry Mystery, No. 3)
by Jill Churchill
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jill ChurchillEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1993-02-01
ISBN: 0380769328
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Avon Books
Book Reviews of A Quiche Before Dying (A Jane Jeffry Mystery, No. 3)
Book Review: Macho Bacon & Spicy Swiss, Please!
Summary: 5 Stars
On the back flap of my copy of this paperback is a quote from Mysteries By Mail:
"Jane Jeffry is a cross between Miss Marple and Erma Bombeck."
That comment toots-the-bugle on target, and the 1993 copyright date sets the receding edge of the Bombeck boom, a blip in the Quiche resurrection, and the finality of my age at 57-years-and-slipping ... cuz I fondly recall all of this too clearly, and with more than a few happy chuckles and taste bud awakenings:
-- Generous segments of hot Swiss cheese oozing within egg custard set warmly into a fresh & flaky, crisp pie-crust-shell ... Oh, yeah!
-- Macho bacon chunks holding tangy barriers between melted, creamy goo, and souffle-ed to a steaming, lightly bouncy, moist egg fluff ... Uh huh.
-- Soft hints of nutmeg nearly overcome with glee by freshly sauteed, almost crunchy, slithery garlic and green onion pieces ... Ho, ho, ho.
Tim Taylor lives!
(And is dated with fond memory, in the kitchen, by the oven, within the ambiance of this review of a culinary cozy, thank you Lord!)
Ahem. Excuse the slips through drooling saliva.
Returning to the above quote from M by M...
Miss Marple is another story (beyond and before Erma). Rather than nicely seating an age-flavor as Bombeck has done so well, Christie's Marple is ageless and forever famous ...
... except to a young editor at Penguin who rejected a ms because the protagonist, at 55-years, was too old to appeal to mystery readers. Huh? Penguin, I love your Tuxedo, and that ms deserves a second chance to dance!!
Pretend I didn't slither in that last paragraph.
If you want to read something timeless and ageless, though, something which exemplifies the best of many crossover worlds bleeding into each other in a classic mystery scene taking the suburban housewife into her own where she'll never be underestimated or overwhelmed again ...
If you want to be impressed with how stark-salient-simplicity, and routine-real-life might be successfully lived and easily prioritized, on an easy fly, within the-gracious-hostess-role played with panache ...
If you want all that and more, read (and reread) the Last Chapter of A QUICHE BEFORE DYING.
I'll quote a few passages and comment upon the depth and complexity which can be easily missed do to the smooth ride of the jazzy rhythm and snappy-blues of Jill Churchill's voice.
Not to worry, though, I won't give away even a hint of any part of the plot or denouement which needs to be kept under raps for the mystery threads to remain intact, to be unraveled only as you read this book from page one to the end, which I recommend "to no end."
Chapter 21 begins:
>> "Mom!" Katie called from the living room. Mike and Todd are being repulsive again! They're such dweebs!"
>> "It's their nature," Jane called back from the dining room table. (Note that Jane doesn't leap up, zip upstairs and micro-manage, like those fictional super Mom's we know too well, in response to this whine & conflict; nor does Jane's heart surge into a cholesterol calling frenzy. She's cool. And wise to no end.)
>> "I'll help you clear this up," Thelma said, surveying the dirty dishes and general wreckage of Sunday dinner littering the table.
>> "No hurry, Thelma. More coffee, Uncle Jim? Mel? Mom? (See Jane easily side-step Thelma's push to put process before people, to clear the clutter rather than leisurely running the course on calls to hostess.)
>> Shelly came into the room. "I've got my gang off to the pool. May I invite myself to dessert?" She sat down at Kate's abandoned place and helped herself to a microscopically thin wedge of strawberry pie. <<
Those few words expose volumes in such a free-flowing syntax, it's easy to notice only subliminally that Churchill is dramatizing Jane's wise-and-easy style of Mom-ship; her casual expression of understated, gracious hostess-ing; her deft diversion of the Mom-in-law maneuvers. Jane accomplishes all this without missing a cue (or clue), without controlling, micro-managing, or bashing budding brains; she steps and sidesteps with grace, on-the-fly.
Did you SEE that?? See Jane? See Jane run?
That last chapter deserves to be reread with a certain amount of regularity, each time I want to be reminded of what a murder mystery was meant to do. Jane not only accomplishes all the above, she regularly gives a hell-of-a-good answer to life's habitual conundrums. And, if I read between the lines with enough care, after-thought, second and third thoughts, I see the subtle wisdom there which is so cashed in nuance to have caused The Suburban Housewife, Jane Jeffry, and Jill Churchill to be underestimated with the "under" so LOW as to have been buried.
On that note I'll wind down with advice to myself:
Remember the phrase, "... coming down with." It can be seen as (only one of many) a subtly repeated clue to the Churchill/Jeffry mystique.
Remember and wonder, Linda:
"Why Jane, (of all people)?"
Why Jane?
"Who is John Galt?" (From ATLAS SHRUGGED -- Ayn Rand)
This series deserves to be reproduced in an elevated version of a new and complete hardback collection (along with the one I've bugled that Joanne Pence deserves, along with the one Joanne Fluke has been deservedly given) ... with this review as a preface!
Oh my. I'm flying high this morning.
But, trust me when I say that I mean (more than I can say) every word of praise to Jill. Though, I honestly doubt that this review is that good!
Illusions of Grandeur I sometimes have; I admit it. But I usually know depth, complexity, and subtle wisdom when I read it. And, I know what makes a good mystery, though I'd like to allow many types of these.
Speaking of which, the convoluted coming to light of the culprit, motive, criminal and moral resolution of this one is as a true mystery lover would appreciate:
The whole shebang is intriguingly unusual and nudges the reader to contemplate, maybe even connect his logic-tight-compartments (as psychologists termed in the 70's those parts of the brain which refuse to acknowledge each other, on the grounds that awareness might incriminate).
Yours In the Game, though I'm not "Fair Game,"
Linda G. Shelnutt
Summary of A Quiche Before Dying (A Jane Jeffry Mystery, No. 3)
A MEAL TO DIE FORWith the kids packed off on their summer road trips, it's an ideal time for Jane Jeffry to pursue other interests, so the harried suburban mom enrolls in a writing course at the community college. But when an obnoxious aged classmate keels over dead after sampling a tasty treat from a pot luck student buffet, Jane realizes there's a culinary killer among the local would-be literati.
The pen may be mightier than the sword. . .but poison beats them both. And before the both. And before the demise of a very disagreeable old biddy can be written off, amateur sleuth Jane intends to find out who's responsible -- and cook the culprit's goose in his or her own creative juices.
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