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The Thin Woman (1992)

The Thin Woman (1992)

Book Info

Genre
Rating
3.96 of 5 Votes: 4
Your rating
ISBN
0553291955 (ISBN13: 9780553291957)
Language
English
Publisher
crimeline

About book The Thin Woman (1992)

An enjoyable, humorous and very cozy mystery. The first half of the book got off a bit slow for me--we didn't seem to be making any progress, or finding many clues, to the "mystery." However, I enjoyed the cozy and easygoing writing style, all the details and little character traits (especially of Ellie). I found the second half much more exciting as we finally got a mystery to start working out--I admit that a few of the clues were too obvious, and though I had worked out most of the "whodunit" essentials, I still received a few good surprises when all was revealed. On the downside, I did not find our romantic leading man all that romantic or appealling, and Ellie seemed a bit too old (especially in the beginning); she was supposed to be 27t seemed at least mid-thirties in mindset. However, the romance was only a sidebar to the overall story, anyway, and the story had a minimum of violence while still being suspenseful so three cheers for that!_______________________________________I decided to stay with the British estate mystery theme, though this protagonist is considerably different than Lord Peter, being a twenty-seven year old "plus size" woman living in the early 1980s... So far, it's very amusing and delightfully written. I'm hoping for a fun, cozy and suspenseful read.

This is a fun little English Country Manor mystery full of charm. The writing style is mediocre but plot and characters are nicely developed. Uncle Merlin has passed away and left a will fraught with peril. Ellie and her escort and pretend fiance Ben must live in the house for 6 months. Ben must write a book without a single word of smut and Ellie must lose 63 pounds in that time period. And, as if that doesn't sound impossible enough, they must find the house's treasure. But someone is bent on seeing that they don't succeed providing mischief, mayhem, and even attempted murder. Who is the villain? Can it be Dorcus, the friend who suddenly appears at the scene of Ellie's blown tire and has come to apply for the position of housekeeper? Can it be Jonas, the faithful gardener? Aunt Sybil is aged but is she behind it all? And what about cousins Freddie and Vanessa? Or the other aunts and uncles? Could it possibly be the village vicar who seems to have taken a shine to Ellie even though he believes she is engaged to Ben. And then there's friend Jill. Ben cooks while Ellie and Dorcus re-do the manner and try to find the missing treasure. At less than 250 pages it is a quick read and moves along at a nice pace.

Do You like book The Thin Woman (1992)?

The story was well written, but the book (which I read in electronic format) was so badly proofread I wanted to box someone's ears! It's obvious that it was typed and a spell-check was run, but there was no human intervention before the publishing. Here's an example:"You may mink poorly of her going off with another man, but she was a remarkable woman."This would pass spell check, but the word should have been "think". Many instances like this exist in the book, taking one out of the story and back to the real world with a thump. Parts of the plot were a bit trite, and I was a annoyed that the heroine hit her weight goal in 6 months by dieting, which is so rarely the case. From some of the other reviewers on Amazon I get the impression that the electronic book may have been abridged, as well, which is always annoying. Shame on Random House Digital Editions, especially since the book as listed on amazon is the full price of any of the dead tree versions. The author can write, and I'm going to see if there are more. This one is from the library - it's definitely worth a read.
—Miriam

What a bloody mess. Cannell adopts a 1930s, Agatha Christie-like style for her debut novel, which is a pleasant enough mystery for about two-thirds of its length. But then the author loses all sense of reality. The heroine-narrator, an interior decorator obsessed with food, utters howler after howler (“I desired a roast beef sandwich with horse-radish and pickled onions with a wanton savagery that I had never felt for any man”), and her romance with an oddball male escort almost –- but not quite -–plunges the book into “so bad it’s good” territory:Ben: “This is how it could have been if only I had confessed my love before you went and got so skinny.”Ellie: “Part of me will always hunger for the wrong foods but I have to tell you that I am not prepared to eat myself back to my old proportions so you can prove the integrity of your love.”The biggest head-scratcher of all is that, somehow, this amateurish junk food was included by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association as one of its “100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century.”
—Grouchy Editor

This book was Fantastic! It kept me smiling and sometimes laughing out loud the whole way through - very witty. I LOVED all of the characters; the plot was swift-moving but the descriptions gave me enough 'time' to imagine I was really there. This is by far the best of her books. In fact, I have reread it so often it is falling to shreds! A wonderful cozy book - any time I'm feeling down or nervous or moody, I can pick this up and be instantly swept up into Ellie's crazy life. Really really a great book, one of my favorites.
—ara133photography

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