Slightly Abridged: A Nine Muses Mystery: Erato

by Ellen Pall

Book Overview

There's nothing like murder to cure a case of writer's block. Regency romance writer Juliet Bodine is falling into despair. Instead of writing, she spends her days staring at the pages of her unfinished novel, fantasizing about her inevitable failure. So the arrival of an eighty-four-year-old fan with a trove of yellowing papers to show is a welcome diversion instead of the nuisance it might have been. Demanding, outspoken, stylish, outrageous, and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312281854
• ISBN13: 9780312281854
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Sharp writing

Ellen Pall's greatest asset as a writer is her edgy, witty prose - it's what makes this book a pleasure to read. The dialogue is sharp, the insights make you identify with Juliet, and the latent wit is always ready to surprise you.Juliet is a writer of Regency romances and her difficulties with her current novel are overcome only when her own love-life sparks up. This love life is nicely handled with much left to the imagination and (Praise be!) the careful avoidance of a happy ending. How refreshing to not be landed with an existing amore in the next novel where the reader is stuck watching the relationship toil its way to the next level or, perhaps, fizzle out.The writer really worked with this novel - she finds parallels to her plot in both the real Regency period and the imaginary Regency world of her novel. It's clever, but it's just a bit contrived. She divides her story between two contemporary settings - the semi-sophisticated of New York City and the truly unsophisticated of a tiny village in upstate New York. If I lived in upstate New York I'd be feeling a bit patronized.But it's a good story, with the advent of the bright and beautifully-flawed Ada making mincemeat of the New Yorkers careful lives. As long as the writer maintains her sharp prose and dialogue, keeps the characters clearly focussed and doesn't try to get too clever with her Muses this will be a series worth reading.

Charming sleuth: Clever story

Ellen Pall is a wonderfully fluent writer. Her interiors are vivid, her dialogue is real and she has a sharp but warm eye for humans and their weaknesses. Juliet Bodine is an attractive, imperfect, urbane writer who heads off in search of a killer while being honest enough to explain some of the machinations of fiction writing, or not writing, as the case may be, and what it's really like to be single in the city. She would translate very well onto the screen. But in the meantime, cozy up with "Slightly Abridged." You'll find interwoven some old London history delightfully come back to life in New York, and a clever mystery unraveled.

Witty and fun. Nice mix of mystery and romance

Juliet Bodine is stuck, blocked in writing her latest regency romance, so she welcomes the appearance of a fan. Ada Caffney is an energetic 84-year old who has lived life to the fullest, and who has discovered a segment of manuscript that might, possibly, be worth thousands. Ada drops into Juliet's life like a bombshell dragging Juliet away from her writing to poetry slams, Broadway shows, and tours of the Empire State Building (anything to get away from writing that dreadful romance). When Ada is found dead, the manuscript missing, Juliet becomes a suspect. With the help of illusive love interest and police detective Murray Landis, Juliet sets out to investigate.Author Ellen Pall has written a fun mystery interweaving Juliet's love interests, the painful plotting of Juliet's book (which starts out sounding like a stinker but begins to pick up when Juliet's attraction toward Murray takes on new fire), and the unveiling of more and more motives to see Ada dead all work to keep the reader glued to the novel. Pall uses author intrusion to set the stage for later developments and as chapter hooks, teasing the reader with promises of more to come. It's a little disconcerting at first, but Pall uses it lightly enough to make it an enjoyable style choice.SLIGHTLY ABRIDGED did start a little slowly and the story really gathers steam when Ada goes missing, Murray comes back into the scene, and Juliet is able to escape her morose plotting and turn her energies toward detecting. You'll end up rooting for Juliet to dump the too-perfect book dealer, hook up with Murray, and overcome the killer that only a writer can find.Very nice.

engaging Manhattan amateur sleuth

Author Juliet Bodine writes Regency romances under the pseudonym Angelica Kestrel-Haven. Juliet is having trouble with her latest work because the hero is not the rake she usually uses. So when an octogenarian fan Ada Case Caffrey asks to meet over tea in Manhattan, Juliet, who normally says no, agrees as they have exchanged letters for several years. Ada has more energy that a teenager on a sugar high and gets Juliet and others to escort her all over the big city.Ada also shows Juliet pieces of letters of the apparent memoirs of Harriette Wilson, perhaps the most infamous of the Regency courtesans. Juliet arranges for Ada to meet with Dennis Daigrault, owner of Rara Avis, a store that deals in antiques. However, Ada storms out feeling Dennis is short changing her, but also fails to return to her bed and breakfast while a blizzard socks the city. Not long after she is reported Ada missing, NYPD Detective Murray Landis has Juliet identify an elderly homicide victim who is Ada. Feeling guilty for failing as a host, Juliet begins making inquiries even as Murray searches for a killer and a lost manuscript.This engaging Manhattan amateur sleuth story with some of police procedural elements adds realism to this fun tale due to Hurricane Ada. The key characters are a delightful grouping, but each feels the impact of Ada taking over the city and their lives even after she is murdered. SLIGHTLY ABRIDGED is a fine cozy that leaves the audience waiting for book three of the Muses mysteries.Harriet Klausner