4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hart should be better known!, Oct 14 2011
By Lev Raphael - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Lost Women of Lost Lake (Hardcover)
Hart has won tons of awards and nominations for awards, but she deserves to be a national name in the mystery field. Why? Two excellent reasons. Whereas far too many crime writers offer plots that give themselves away, Hart consistently challenges you in book after finely-crafted book. She's simply one of the best plotters around. And then there's her particular take on crime fiction. Lots of writers, perhaps too many, focus their plots on recent happenings/motives, but Hart is fascinated at showing the influence of sometimes decades-old events in the current day. I love this about her work, the way in which we can't escape our own pasts and sometimes get drawn into the pasts of other people. It's eerie, it's dramatic, it's real. Lost Women does what Hart does best and makes me think she's what Loren D. Estleman is for Michigan: a master of the craft, a crime writer's inspiration, a crime writing fan's delight.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
great amateur sleuth, Sep 27 2011
By Harriet Klausner - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Lost Women of Lost Lake (Hardcover)
Playwright Tessa Cornell severely sprains her ankle. Her wife of twenty six years Jill Ivorsen cares for her mate at the Thunderhook Lodge she owns by Lost Lake. Minneapolis restaurant owner (of Lyme House and the Xanadu Club) Jane Lawless and her best friend the Allen Grimsby Repertoire Theater of St. Paul artist director Cordelia Thorn travel to Lost Lake to help their friends with a sundry of things like cooking.
A man wearing a White Sox shirt arrives at the LaVasser Soda Fountain seeking information about a woman named Judy Clark who is in a Chicago photo from 1968 with the deceased Jeff Briere. Owner Lyndie LaVasser says she cannot help Steven Feigenbaumer as she has no idea who this woman he seeks is. However, she sees Judy Clark whenever she looks into a mirror. Frantic Lyndie calls Tessa accusing her of getting her in the mess over five decades ago. Jane arrives and knows something besides her ankle bothers Tessa, but the woman refuses to reveal what disturbs her. Her wife begs Jane, who has solved mysteries before (see the Cruel Ever Affair), to investigate.
This is a great Jane Lawless amateur sleuth as what happened in riotous 1968 Chicago impacts the present with a long dead cold case returning to life haunting everyone involved. The is some teen triangular angst involving Jill's nephew and two locals, and Jane may have a new beau; both enhance the prime story line of what happened over five decades ago that haunt Lyndie and Tessa.
Harriet Klausner
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Cozy Mystery with a Deeper Twist, May 12 2012
By LH422 - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Lost Women of Lost Lake (Hardcover)
At the Minnesota resort of Jill Ivorson and Tessa Cornell a mystery seems to be brewing. A mysterious man has arrived looking for two aging radicals wanted for the 1960s murder of a policeman. It appears that Tessa may know something about the case. What follows is a period of intense secrecy and suspicion, as some of the people at Lost Lake try to determine what deeds others at the resort have done. Complicating matters is the arrival of Jill and Tessa's nephew, Jonah, trying to escape his parents' arguing by moving in with his aunts.
This is certainly a cozy mystery, enmeshed in a resort community, perpetuated by a restaurateur-cum-sleuth. I appreciated, though, that this book dealt with more social issues than the average cozy mystery. This book touches on domestic violence, youth radicalism, and the secrets of our pasts. I enjoyed the book, and will look for more in the series.
