Intensive Scare Unit

Sarah Deane Mystery #12

by J.S. Borthwick

Crotchety, seventy-something Julia Clancy of High Hope Farm feels a little wobbly one August morning. With stables to clean and riding lessons to give, the stoic New Englander ignores her symptoms-and ends up in the ER with a heart attack. Even then, she's insisting it's indigestion; even then, her sharp eyes don't miss a thing. And a glimpse of something highly unusual will entangle Julia Clancy in the baffling murder of a hospital VIP. The police soon have suspects galore and no hard evidence. But Julia tells her niece Sarah Deane what she saw...and what she fears: that the killer will get her next. Now amateur sleuth Sarah needs to make her own diagnosis of Julia's revelation and sew up the case before the star witness gets a fatal visit from Dr. Death....

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

J. S. Borthwick is the pseudonym of Jean Scott Creighton. She lives on the Maine coast. She is the creator of 'Sarah Deane', a professor of English and amateur sleuth.

Series:
* Sarah Deane Mystery

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I had suspicions this book was one in a series, I wouldn't have expected it to be the 12th in that series. The book focuses on Julia, an elderly lady admitted with a heart attack who sees a man covered with bruises in the emergency room bay next to hers. When that man is later found dead in a bathroom, Julia appears to have been the only person to see him in the ER while still alive, which is key when it is determined the man was murdered, and not by whomever or whatever inflicted those bruises on him. Julia is more than willing to talk to the police, but after doing so, she finds that her life might be threatened by more than just a faulty ticker.
I was obviously not familiar with the series before this book, nor its protagonist, Julia's college professor niece Sarah, or Sarah's husband, Alex, who is a physician. The writing was OK, but not spectacular, and the story was decent, but relied heavily on coincidence to keep the character pool small. I figured out part of the mystery pretty early but stuck with it to see how it all unraveled. I would consider reading another book in the series if it was medically-oriented, but don't think I would deliberately seek one out.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like others have said, the characters are annoying (particularly Sarah Deane) and the plot was fairly predictable. I was initially drawn to it because of the medical part, which was ok, but it didn't make up for the rest. It's the first I've read in this series and I won't be seeking out the other books.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

good characters

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided I don't like the Sarah Deane character. Are all cozy mysteries sleuths this annoying or is it because the author of the series is an older woman? Actually, I don't know how old she is, but an obit for her husband, who passed last December states that he was 89, so my assumption is that she's around that age too. The writing style reminds me of the original Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew series and the Sarah Deane character comes off as though she's from another era and a little naive.

What's interesting is that the series started in the 80s and Sarah has barely aged. :) Similarly, she apparently hasn't figured out how to use a cell phone yet, although maybe in Maine they don't have great service. Just a thought. She needs to be updated a little.

[scherzo♫ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Plot based on people being stupid and weird. Reader is expected to believe that anyone working/volunteering in a hospital can obtain pharmaceuticals.

Writing is okay.

[Sarahandus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is one of the less interesting of Borthwick's books.
There was far too much padding of the "what if" and "suppose" sequences. I kept saying "let's get on with it".