In The Still Of The Night Mm: Amazon.ca: J Churchill: Books

Product Description

--Kansas City Star

"Jill Churchill just keeps getting better and better."

--Nancy Pickard

"Agatha Christie is alive and well and writing under the name Jill Churchill."

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First Sentence
Lily Brewster was standing by the gatehouse entrance to Grace and Favor Cottage. Read the first page

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Concordance

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh and Innovative Series Set in Depression - Era, Mar 21 2004

By	K. A. Stevenson "WIAPilot" (Tucson) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Jill Churchill only gets better with the second book of her "Grace and Favor" mystery series. "In the Still of the Night" adds a little more mystery to the plot and a few additional characters as well.

"In the Still of the Night" continues the saga where Lily and her brother, Robert Brewster are contemplating various ways to add to their income. Their relative's will stipulates that they must earn their living expenses (minus the upkeep of the house, etc.) for 10 years - before inheriting the estate.

Hesitantly, they embark on the venture to invite a famous novelist for the weekend and invite various wealthy friends as paying guests. They know many who will pay for the priviledge of spending the weekend at the manor in his company. A murder takes place and in order to earn any type of profit at all - they must solve the mystery. (As well as knowing that one amongst them is a murderer.)

I especially enjoyed how the plot and characters were so believable. Also, Churchill does a wonderful job of incorporating various historical facts of the time into the story. It is interesting to read that Phoebe makes hats for Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt whose husband is the governor in a nearby city! When Lily invites Phoebe as a boarder to their mansion, Churchill gives a very sound reasoning for Phoebe's decision. This type of detail makes the characters very multi-faceted with a great deal of depth.

Excellent book; wonderful series!

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5.0 out of 5 stars I'd give it a six if I could, Jun 17 2002

By	"jtxjee" (Jasper, TX United States) - See all my reviews

As a fan of Jill Churchill, I have read all of her Jane Jeffry titles. When I saw a new series, I doubted it could live up to my expectations based in the other series. I found the Grace and Favor series, if which this is the first, to be a totally fresh kind of mystery for me. The era of the Depression in a fascinating time of contrasts between the haves and have-nots. Lily and Robert are both. They seem to have inherited a line back to the good life, but making ends meet continues to be a challenge for them.
The idea of a house party with paying guests was certainly a new one to me. It was written with a lot of character development necessary to the future of the series, but with here-and-now action. A great read, as well as a great send-off for a new series.

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4.0 out of 5 stars The party should have gone off without a hitch, Nov 28 2000

By	C. M. Chen (CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For Robert and Lily Brewster, the planned gathering at Grace and Favor Cottage held the possibility of a living. For the guests, both honored and paying, it turned into something gelse entirely. Lily's hopes for the literary gathering featuring author, Julian West, are thwarted when one of their guests turns up dead and the much-valued manuscript of another disappears. When it appeals the two incidents might be linked, the brother and sister duo find themselves on the hunt for another killer in order to preserve their aspirations for their inherited cottage.

Jill Churchill displays a stunning ability to integrate the history of the 1930's with the fiction she writes. This is perhaps the story's greatest recommendation. The mystery itself is thin and while suspenseful, it also becomes somewhat predictable. What the mystery has to recommend itself are the strongly drawn characters with interesting quirks of credible motives. I did enjoy Lily's guests, but perhaps the most entertaining of them all was Robert's "idiot", Mad Henry, whose skill, or lack thereof, as an inventor, proves to be a constant source of irritation and bafflement for Lily though it ends up paying off in the end.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Surviving the Depression in Grand Style on the Hudson
After inhaling the contemporary Jane Jeffrey series, it is refreshing to enter the historical period of the Great Depression in the vicinity of the Roosevelt's of Hyde Park. Read more

Published on Nov 1 2000 by dikybabe

5.0 out of 5 stars An American country-house mystery --
Learning how to make lemonade when life hands you lemons is one of the more important lessons one can learn. Read more

Published on Jul 16 2000 by kellytwo

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting, charming Read
Back for a second Grace and Favor adventure is the sleuth team of siblings Robert and Lily and their dog Agatha. Read more

Published on Jul 12 2000 by Brenda S. Weeaks

5.0 out of 5 stars Great historical mystery in new series
Jill Churchill's new Grace and Favor Mystery series centers on a brother and sister, former members of New York high society who enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle of polo games... Read more

Published on Jul 10 2000 by Sara Rosett