Foxglove

Claire Breslinsky Mystery #2

by Mary Anne Kelly

When photographer Claire Breslinsky's childhood chum, Tree, is found dead, Claire and her cop husband, Johnny Benedetto, investigate the activities of Tree's surprisingly cheerful widowed husband. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery

Paperback

First published November 1, 1992

About the author

Mary Anne Kelly is a former model and lyricist who later turned to writing. Her acclaimed novels follow Claire Breslinsky, an acclaimed photographer from Queens, New York. Kelly also calls Queens home.

Reviews

[A Reader's Heaven · Rating 2 out of 5]

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

When an old friend is murdered, Claire and her husband search for the killer
Ever since she got married, Claire Breslinsky has dreamed of living in the tree-lined Queens neighborhood where she grew up. But her husband is a cop, and cops aren’t allowed to live in the precincts they police. When Johnny’s transfer request finally comes through, Claire sets her sights on a beautiful, shabby old Victorian mansion. She is about to tour the house when she hears a half-forgotten voice: that of her old friend Tree, who lives across the street from the one Claire wants to buy. They hug, exchange numbers, and promise to see each other more often. They won’t. Tree will be dead by morning.
A talented photographer with a Buddhist sense of cosmic justice, Claire can’t help but suspect Tree’s oddly cheerful husband of doing her in. With Johnny’s help, she digs into the bizarre murder and finds that strange things have been happening lately on the shady side streets of Richmond Hill.

*Originally published in 1992*

Let me start by saying this isn't a bad book, despite the rating. A reasonable enough mystery novel...but it hasn't aged very well. 25 years is a long time in book-terms - who knows how many really top quality mystery/crime novels I have read in that time? They would have scored 4-5 stars without a problem.

Had I read this 25 years ago, it very well may have rated far better. However, while it was good, certainly wasn't up to the standards I hold today...


Paul
ARH

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really had high hopes for this book, however, I was a bit disappointed. It was labeled as a mystery and the description stated that Claire (the main character) and her husband searched for the killer of an old friend. I didn't see any of that, truthfully and for me it was misleading.

It was slow to start, in addition, there was not a lot mentioned about there being a suspicion of murder until late in the book. For all intents and purposes it seemed the victim had a stroke even though she was pretty young for such a thing to happen to her. While that is not unheard of, still I think the authorities would have done a post mortem to investigate the true cause of death. I also didn't see much help from Claire's husband and there was not really any investigation into her friend's death conducted by them. Although, Claire was highly suspicious of her friend's husband, who was, admittedly, pretty shady.

Something else that confused me was the time period in which this story took place. Perhaps I overlooked that information somewhere. I did search for it but was unable to find it. It appeared to take place during the seventies, maybe, but I am not quite sure to be honest.

Having said that, I did like the book. It just wasn't what I was expecting. Perhaps, if it had been labeled Women's Literature, I would have liked it much better and I wouldn't have been expecting a thrilling murder mystery. In my humble opinion, it would fit first and foremost into that genre much better. The murder was more of a subplot than the main plot.

I do recommend this book for those that like to read Women's Literature. There was a lot going on and I did really like Claire. But, it may not be for those die hard murder mystery fans out there. So, for those reasons I am giving FOXGLOVE three stars.

My review can be found on www.wordgurgle.blogspot.com

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another delightful mystery set in and around Queens - this time even extending as far as Rockaway Park. One of the artists that Claire Breslinsky wants to photograph is an actual sculptor who lives in Rockaway Park with her photographer husband, who actually was a schoolmate of mine from Kindergarten through high school (and, while I do not know her work, he was always very talented). Again, the book very accurately captures my old neighborhood, at a time when it was changing radically.

Although this was not the particular series I was trying to track down, I am very glad that the folks at THE MYSTERIOUS BOOKSHOP and both the BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY and the QUEENS BOROUGH PUBLIC LIBRARY steered me to it.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book, y'all. I don't even know. I think if it hadn't been for the setting (Richmond Hill, Queens - a neighborhood of which I am super familiar, as I lived just north of there and worked just west of there and it's where I usually caught the bus and walked through a lot) I'd probably give it the rare one star. Ostensibly it's a mystery, but that's pretty paltry. A girl our heroine knew as a kid dies near the beginning - shortly after they renewed their acquaintance - and Claire (heroine) occasionally feels like her husband is douchey and not mourning enough, so she kind of adopts murdered lady's kid and and says snarky things about the husband, but that's kind of it until the extremely over-the-top ending. Meanwhile there is a lot of story about her dysfunctional family, her jerky husband and her former guru and his sidekick who drop in and end up staying for a while. It's kind of a mess. A really long, muddled mess.

But appropriately evocative of the neighborhood (even though the timing seemed off? I mean, it was published in the 90s so I assume it was contemporary to that time, but it also seemed like a lot older than that). And I still love you Open Road.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series since i have found it, and have been reading each book. Having grown up in Queens, i love reading these books that take place there.