Murder Me Now

by Annette Meyers

Book Overview

Greenwich Village is decked with snow and mistletoe in December of 1920. Prohibition may be the law, but the speakeasies are crowded with writers and artists, friends and lovers. In the midst of all... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892966955
• ISBN13: 9780892966950
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Oliver! Oliver!

She's back, Olivia/Oliver Brown, poet/sleuth, that is.This time she joins her bohemian friends at a rustic farmhouse for a weekend of gin, games, gossip, and sex for sex's sake. And the intrigue begins when tempers flare and the host and hostess seem to part ways. Then Olivia and current squeeze, Paulo, discover an icy apparition hanging from a tree. The frozen female is none other than the nanny of the host and hostess, Fordy and Kate Vaude. The investigation of the suicide turned murder moves to Greenwich Village as the weekend guests return there for their "normal" lives. Thus, Olivia, Harry, Mattie, Gerry, and the Hudson Dusters once again join ranks to solve things first. (They all came together in Meyers' first Olivia Brown mystery, Free Love.)Olivia waxes poetic and enthralls every male with whom she comes into contact, including the underworld character Monk Eastman who showers her with booze by the crate and roses by the dozen.Meyers' delivers this easy read and keeps the solution a secret until the end. This Oliver adventure involves characters in the Secret Service, the Pinkertons, the Black Hand, and the Ivy League poetry effete. Olivia is still not my favoriate protagonist, by any means, but Meyers' certainly sets a scene of the decadence that followed the Great War in 1920's New York.

Great Character - Great Fun

Olivia Brown, 1920s Bohemian poet and part-time detective, is a most fascinating character, sophisticated and intelligent, but tending to be rather theatrical and headstrong. Obviously based upon Edna St. Vincent Millay (she is even called "Oliver" by her friends, as Millay was called "Vincent"), she and her milieu are quite convincing. The Greenwich Village that she resides in seems completely authentic, along with the real-life characters with whom she associates, such as Edmund "Bunny" Wilson and Susan Glaspell, and the atmosphere of prohibition, with its speakeasies and bootleggers.The investigation of the murder of a maid (who turns out to be an undercover agent) is intriguing. And the diversions of the Black Hand gang, trying to discourage Olivia's prying, and rival mobster Monk Eastman, who displays a romantic interest in our heroine, add to the suspense.The ending, when we finally discover "whodunit," really doesn't depend to any great degree on the whole progress of the investigation, and the novel comes to a rather disconcertingly abrupt close. But who cares? It has been a great ride, and I'll be first in line for Olivia's next adventure.

Excellent Series - Strong Woman, Interesting Plot

This is the second entry in the Olivia Brown series set in 1920 Greenwich Village. In this outing, a nanny has been murdered at the home of Olivia's friends. Her tenant Harry Melville has been hired to investigate the murder and Olivia volunteers to assist. As they begin asking questions, the responses raise more questions than they answer. This is an excellent series. The characters are well-drawn and interesting, the reader genuinely cares about Olivia and Harry as well as the minor characters. Meyers makes you feel the angst of the young men who survived WWI and Greenwich Village comes alive beneath her talented pen. The plot in this outing was more strongly drawn than in the previous entry in the series. The only problem I have with the series is that I have to wait a year for the next entry.

A Slice of Life in the 1920s

Nothing beat the bohemian life of New York's Greenwich Village in the '20s, with it's artists and writers, cabarets and speakeasies. And at the center of it all is Olivia Brown, (Oliver, to her friends) poet, lover, gin enthusiast and sometime detective. She's gone with friends up the Hudson River to the house of Kate and Fordy Vaude in Croton, for a weekend of lively conversation, bootleg gin and free love. But from the start, all does not feel right and that feeling is confirmed when the Vaude's nanny, Adele Zimmer is found murdered, hanged with a man's leather belt from a snowy tree branch. No one knows anything about this mysterious, newly employed nanny. As Oliver and her friend, private detective Harry Melville begin their investigation, they find nothing is as it seems and the two keep coming up with many more questions than answers. And, as they work their way through the case, secrets and lies start popping up all over Greenwich Village..... Annette Meyers has written a charming whodunit, full of twists, turns and surprises that will keep readers turning pages to the end. Her writing is crisp, smart and witty and her characters, original and interesting. But it's her very visual scenes that set you right down in the middle of prohibition-era, bohemian life, that makes this novel such fun to read. Murder Me Now is a delightful, fast read...you really can't go wrong with this book.

Colorful and atmospheric mystery

In the 1920s in lower Manhattan, Olivia Brown lives life to the fullest. She enjoys living in the Village as a poet, loves to make love, and relishes assisting her neighbor, private investigator Harry Melville, with his cases.Olivia travels to Croton up the Hudson from her home to attend a party that she feels will include literary peers and plenty of illegal booze. However, instead of a good time, the attendees argue, verbally ripping one another apart. The gala event totally collapses when Olivia discovers the frozen body of the hosts' nanny. Unable to leave the crime to law enforcement, Olivia cons Harry into assisting her with investigating the homicide.MURDER ME NOW is a colorful historical fiction piece with a touch of a mystery to tie the vivid look at the literary set during the Roaring Twenties together. The story line is extremely entertaining for those readers who appreciate an opportunity to observe a bygone era. The who- done-it is well written and sub-genre fans will delight in its combination amateur sleuth cum private eye. Annette Meyers' second Brown mystery (see FREE LOVE) clearly belongs to the period that the plot lovingly describes to the audience.Harriet Klausner