Long Time No See: A Novel

by Susan Isaacs

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERShe's back After more than two decades, Judith Singer, the heroine of Compromising Positions, returns in a rollicking new novel sure to delight Susan Isaacs's millions of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060195703
• ISBN13: 9780060195700
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.2" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant, simply brilliant

Susan Issacs established herself as a superstar decades ago, deservedly so. Yet LONG TIME NO SEE still may be her best book in years. Her heroine, Judith Singer, whom Issacs' devoted readers first met in COMPROMISING POSITIONS, has aged beautifully. Around this amateur sleuth--Miss Marples if Miss Marples were a Donna Karan-clad, card-carrying member of Weight Watchers living in an affluent New York suburb--Issacs has constructed a mystery. Not to mince words, a brilliant mystery. The tale is both intricate and plausible, and never obvious. Issacs tells her story with insights--brilliant insights-- practically one on each page; as an observer, Issacs possesses the keenest eye. In the course of Judith's grand adventure, Issacs gets inside the heads of menopausal women, revealing truths about middle-aged passion. This author's turns of phrase are, yes, brilliant as well as singular, making for dialogue that's fun. This compelling novel is good to the last page.

a great comeback by Susan Isaacs

I've got a soft spot for Susan Isaacs and her writing: Since reading "Compromising positions" & "Almost paradise", years ago, I've become a fan, & have ordered everything coming out by her, months before it's actually in the bookstores. Some of her books I've loved, others I've merely liked. Never was there a book by Susan Isaacs that I've hated or been bored with. Even "Red white & blue", her weakest work to date, was finished in a matter of hours. "Long time no see" could be called a sequel, if we were to stretch the meaning of the word "sequel". In it, Judith Singer, housewife & recent widow, is slowly getting bored by single life & work at the local college. 20 years ago, she had helped solve a murder, by getting the detective itch. She gets the urge again, when learning about Courtney Logan's mysterious disappearance. She even, fearlessly, volunteers to help solve the mystery, working together with Courtney's father in law, gangster Phil Lowenstein.Part of the fun of S.Isaac's books is the terrific humour & the one-liners. Most of her heroines (and Judith more so than others) are wittier, more brave versions of everyday women. The actual mystery in this book is solved piece by piece, conversation by conversation, & we watch as, incredibly, Judith gets to the end of it. While she does this, she manages to have a reunion with her flame from long ago, Nelson Sharpe, who we last met in "Compromising Positions". 20 years may have passed, but ( & this is part of Ms.Isaac's talent) it somehow seems natural for Judith & Nelson to get back together. Maybe, in the end, that's why I love Susan Isaacs: she takes everyday people, puts them into not-everyday situtations, and lets things happen.

Susan Isaacs delights us...

one more time.Isaacs is a first rate contemporary novelist. She combines the elements of mystery with strong, contemporary characters, primarily women. Dialogue is crisp and honest, supporting characters fit the lifestyle of the heroine, and the story moves along so fast that you are disappointed you finished it so quickly! All of her heroines are feisty yet vulnerable, with an "everywoman" style, and generally a little "long of tooth". Judith Singer is no exception. Isaacs' first heroine, of "Compromising Positions" fame, is back some 20 years after she stumbled into her first murder and her first love affair. Played by Susan Sarandon(a perfect choice), in the movie of the same name, Judith is even more fascinating once her children are grown, her ambitions in the field of history fulfilled by her Phd., and her memories of Nelson Sharpe, the police lieutenant who won her heart 20 years ago.Judith is urged to investigate a disappearance that looks like a murder by the father-in-law of the missing woman. "Fancy Phil" is a colorful, Jewish, "retired" mob man; good for many laughs and observations in the book. Judith's ability to spot the trend of "coldness" that runs in the life history of the missing womanleads her to be able to solve the case, while assisting the police and fulfilling her obligation to Phil. Courtney, the missing/murdered heroine, is well drawn as a female who wants it all, and stops at nothing whenever she hits a brick wall, to proceed in another direction, no matter who she hurts. A greatvillain and foil for the likeable Judith - another great read by Isaacs, my favorite author in today's fiction.Enjoy, and read all the Isaacs novels, you will find a treasure trove of witty characters and tales!

Ms. Isaacs continues the story, twenty years later

Judith Singer, housewife/detective is now twenty years older. Her husband, the egocentric Bob has been dead for two years, a half day after running the NY marathon in just over 4 hrs. She is teaching history at a small catholic college and seems depressed bored and lonely. Then, just like twenty years ago, a headline catches her eye. A woman in her community of Shorehaven has disappeared without a trace. She finds it interesting, but does nothing until a body is found in the woman's swimming pool months later. Presumably, the body is that of Courtney Logan. Judith rather impulsively offers her services as a researcher to the grieving husband, and is rebuffed at the door. Shortly thereafter, his father, organized crime figure, Fancy Phil Lowenstein, shows up in her garage and asks for her help in solving the crime. This brings Nelson Sharpe, now in Special Investigations, back into her life and her investigation.All of the old characters from Compromising Positions are back, twenty years older. I was interested to find out how they all changed. The mystery in this book was much better than the last, and that one was very good. It was an excellent Long Island suburban mystery.

IT'S ABOUT TIME!

As a mystery author with my debut novel in its initial release, I have been waiting quite awhile for Susan Isaacs to write another mystery featuring Long Islander Judith Singer. It's been twenty years since Judith's last appearance in COMPROMISING POSITIONS, and LONG TIME NO SEE is well worth the wait. Much has changed in Judith's life since she solved that dentist's murder. She's raised two kids, become a widow when her husband died as a marathon man, and earned a Ph.D. While she's teaching college, she remains essentially unfulfilled. Then former investment banker and current Long Island housewife Courtney Logan is murdered. Courtney, everyone's idea of a perfect soccer mom, turns out to have had some secrets. Her husband, Greg, is connected to the mob through his father. When Phil Lowenstein, the late Courtney's father-in-law, offers to hire Judith to investigate the death, Judith is more than ready, despite a warning from the police detective who is her former lover, to take on the case. Judith launches her investigation, and Ms. Isaacs spins a fine tale. It is an enjoyable read, and I can barely wait another twenty years for the next Susan Isaacs mystery featuring Judith Singer.