Dying Well: A Lady Margaret Priam Mystery

Lady Margaret Priam Mystery #10

by Joyce Christmas

A CRIME DE LA CRÈME

Everybody who is anybody is bending an elbow at Dr. Dale Reeve's fiftieth-birthday bash. But Lady Margaret Priam is uneasy--the glittering crowd includes not only Dale's wife but also his mistress; not just his spoiled children but his wife's lover as well. Not to mention her beautiful new secretary, the instigator of this glamorous affair, a wild Texas filly with a penchant for kicking up trouble all over Manhattan.

Lady Margaret's fears are quickly justified. For even before the birthday cake is cut, someone will take a shortcut to death, off the terrace and down-down-down to fulfill a killer's devious wish. . . .

Genres: Mystery

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 6, 2000

About the author

Joyce Christmas is the author of 11 mysteries published by Fawcett Gold Medal, eight featuring expatriate Brit in Manhattan, Lady Margaret Priam. A ninth Lady Margaret book, Going Out in Style, is scheduled for summer 1998. Her second series stars retired office manager, Betty Trenka, a senior sleuth who's facing the problems of aging, and finding a new life for herself. The most recent, Downsized to Death, was published in November, 1997, for a total of three in the series so far.

Reviews

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was a unique cozy. And I devoured it quickly, even if it was short. You read in the beginning that someone dies by either falling or being pushed off a balcony in New York. You don’t know who and you don’t know why. You certainly don’t know if it was an accident. You have to was through 95% of the book before getting some answers. And you don’t get all the answers in the last pages. Character wise, Lucy is a conniving young witch. The remainder of the women are all snobs. Society means everything to them. And all the men, except Paul and De Vere are morons. But I loved this book -truly, madly, deeply and I’m glad I discovered it in the last chance no at my local used bookstore.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, New York based Lady Margaret Priam and her swain, detective Sam De Vere, play small parts in this episode. Instead, there are less likeable characters to consider, especially wealthy Texan Carolyn Hoopes' prodigy Lucia Grant. The daughter of Carolyn's late best friend and prosperous Big Ed, Lucy wants to live in New York, and since Margaret owes Carolyn a favor, she's tasked with finding a job for the girl. So Lucy ends up temporarily living in Margaret's modest apartment and working as a social secretary for a well-connected but disorganized charity benefactor. Have you seen All About Eve lately? The stunning Lucy sets about insinuating herself into her employer's life, even organizing a surprise birthday party for handsome man of the house. But someone ends up dead...

[Eugene · Rating 1 out of 5]

And with that, I’ve finished this series; began well but flagged in the middle, and these last few were poor efforts. This final entry had absolutely no mystery in it, so the author resorted to a sort of Maguffin to open the book and keep some suspense as to who exactly was pitched off the rooftop, but it wasn’t very mysterious after all…

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a great inspiration, because it talks about a lady who caused pain in the lives of many poeple