Photobucket

July 24, 2010

Review Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy

Photobucket
Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy
Published by The Penguin Group
ISBN: 978-0-425-23521-8
At the request of Kaye Publicity, a PB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (back of book):  Everyone wants a piece of millionaire Bennett Marshfield, owner of Marshfield Manor, and letters are coming in daily from those claiming to be poor relations. The elderly, reclusive heir trusts no one but his aged curator, Abe. But when Abe is killed in a case of mistaken identity, the tide changes...
  Although shaken by the murder, Grace Wheaton, whose lifelong dream has been to work at the manor, steps up to the challenge of assuming Abe's job. But now some of the letters arriving for Bennett have taken a nasty turn, demanding millions-or else. When an uninvited stalker shows up at the manor and at Grace's home, she and handsome grounds-keeper Jack Embers must protect their dear old Marshfield. But to do this, they'll have to investigate a botched Ponzi scheme, some torrid Wheaton family secrets-and sour grapes out for revenge.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: This is the first book of Ms. Hyzy's Manor House Mystery series and the first book that I read by this author. I thought that this would be a cozy mystery and that I would probably figure out the "who did it" person relatively early. But I was wrong on both accounts. From the first chapter, where assistant curator, Grace Wheaton, handles a disturbance that takes place in the Bird Cage Tea Room, while a murder takes place in the private living quarters. To the last chapters where the "who did it" person was revealed, flowed so smoothly but with a page turning suspenseful plot. Grace takes control, jumping into the head curator's position and also trying to assist the small town police department in the hunt for a murderer. Ms. Hyzy introduces a cast of characters with quirky behaviors, which any one of them could be the murderer, but was surprised as to who it was. Along the way she also discovers secret passageways, a Ponzi scheme, which the owner of Marshfield Manor is involved in, in some way and even some very personal family secrets. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading Grace Under Pressure and will look forward to the next book in this series. Ms Julie Hyzy was "Guest Author" on this blog on July 14th.
Photobucket
Photobucket
DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
No items that I receive
are ever sold...they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.


8 comments:

bermudaonion said...

From the cover, I thought this was a cozy too. It sounds really good.

Aleksandra said...

Great review! I'll definitely get it :)

Gigi Ann said...

I found it a fun enjoyable read, and like you I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Kaye said...

This was definitely a fun one and I had no idea "whodunnit" either. Julie writes a great mystery book. Have you tried her White House Chef series? Excellent!

Anonymous said...

Great review Cheryl. I have not read anything by this author yet but i hope i can sometime.

Anonymous said...

I've read her "Hail to the Chef" mysteries and they were fun. I like her writing.

http://asthepageturns-page.blogspot.com

Julie P said...

Nice review, Cheryl! Thanks for sharing....

Darlyn said...

Mystery/ Suspense always one of my favorite read. I like the sound of the book premise and I already add it on my TBR list. Thanks Cheryl!