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Loretta Lawson #4
What Men Say
When a woman's decomposed body is found in the aging barn of Oxford don Bridget Bennett's estate, Loretta knows her friend Bridget's shock is genuine. Unfortunately, the local constabulary are not so sure. And the tabloid press has a field day. But when the police try to identify the dead woman and any possible connection to Bridget and her devoted husband, only Bridget seems alarmed at what might surface. Loretta tries to piece the puzzle together herself — with little success. Until a police blunder illuminates a dire suspicion she had all along.... "A deft, old-fashioned whodunit... A ripping good read." — Independent on Sunday (London) "An intriguing puzzle... Solid entertainment." — Kirkus Reviews
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
4 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Joan Smith
19 books39 followersJoan Alison Smith is an English novelist, journalist and human rights activist, who is a former chair of the Writers in Prison committee in the English section of International PEN. In 2003 she was offered the MBE for her services to PEN, but refused the award. Joan Smith is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 11, 2019
The fourth outting for Loretta Lawson and certainly the modest enjoyable of my re-reads. The plot revolves around a body of a woman found in the grounds of Loretta's best friend, Oxford Don Brigitte Bennett. The book is very cleverly written by Joan Smith with the murder playing out in the background as Loretta goes about her business. At no point does Loretta sleuth instead she slowly gets drawn closer to the case in a realistic way. The most depressing part of the book are the true events played out in the background which featured the fall of the old Soviet Union and how the optimism of twenty years ago as long since vanished in to the mess the world is in today.
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September 29, 2023I have been reading this quite short book for over a week during illness, and the minutiae bother me much more than in the previous Loretta Lawson mysteries. Do I really need to know that she went to the toilet? Or that she was planning a visit to Sainsbury's?
I am entertained by these stories but the answer is obvious.
On a further note, LL just appears spectacularly dumb and a damsel in distress all throughout.
I am entertained by these stories but the answer is obvious.
On a further note, LL just appears spectacularly dumb and a damsel in distress all throughout.
June 5, 2022
2.5 stars. It wasn’t that great. Slow and clunky.
August 7, 2025
Best Loretta Lawson!
July 5, 2010
Tepid plot, girlfriend's chit chat = disappointing Brit yarn...
We typically enjoy Brit authors, and tend to like most leading ladies of female authors. But we struck out on this novel, the fourth Loretta Lawson mystery from England's Joan Smith. The story starts out with a dead body discovered at the housewarming of Loretta's best friend and fellow professor, Bridget Bennett. Her pregnant girlfriend comes to stay with her for several days to recover from the shock, while the police investigate behind the scenes. For the next 200 pages, very few events advance the solving of the case, other than discovering the dead woman's identity, and much of what does happen in the case is described to us second-hand from newspaper accounts. Meanwhile the women drink tea, gossip, and discuss their problems at college - hardly adequate to entertain let alone thrill and chill. Toward the very end of the novel, some late breaking information points to Bridget's hubby Sam being involved, but then he claims Bridget committed the crime. The book then suddenly ends, except for a postscript by Loretta to her ex- (a journalist) thanking him for unearthing some information from America that spelled things out and helped in determining the perpetrator.
While every novel doesn't have to reel out endless twists and turns, or add shock value from every page, we just could hardly keep interested in such a lukewarm storyline. There was nothing to care about in terms of the crime, except that hopefully neither main character was the culprit, but we doubted that just as a matter of course. Moreover, Loretta, supposedly the amateur sleuth from other stories, doesn't really work the crime either - it just sort of ends off camera, and a narrator (Loretta's postscript) spells out the conclusion for the audience, a technique we found way short of stunning. Perhaps the biggest mystery of all is what the title was supposed to mean, as it doesn't seem to relate to anything.
Apparently Ms. Smith is an intellectual and a feminist, having published both non-fiction and learned articles on the way in which women are treated or mis-treated. While there were hints of such issues beneath the surface in this offering, they were really too subtle to contribute anything provocative to an other wise tepid book. Perhaps her non-fiction might be a better bet than Smith's attempts to entertain with mysteries such as this.
We typically enjoy Brit authors, and tend to like most leading ladies of female authors. But we struck out on this novel, the fourth Loretta Lawson mystery from England's Joan Smith. The story starts out with a dead body discovered at the housewarming of Loretta's best friend and fellow professor, Bridget Bennett. Her pregnant girlfriend comes to stay with her for several days to recover from the shock, while the police investigate behind the scenes. For the next 200 pages, very few events advance the solving of the case, other than discovering the dead woman's identity, and much of what does happen in the case is described to us second-hand from newspaper accounts. Meanwhile the women drink tea, gossip, and discuss their problems at college - hardly adequate to entertain let alone thrill and chill. Toward the very end of the novel, some late breaking information points to Bridget's hubby Sam being involved, but then he claims Bridget committed the crime. The book then suddenly ends, except for a postscript by Loretta to her ex- (a journalist) thanking him for unearthing some information from America that spelled things out and helped in determining the perpetrator.
While every novel doesn't have to reel out endless twists and turns, or add shock value from every page, we just could hardly keep interested in such a lukewarm storyline. There was nothing to care about in terms of the crime, except that hopefully neither main character was the culprit, but we doubted that just as a matter of course. Moreover, Loretta, supposedly the amateur sleuth from other stories, doesn't really work the crime either - it just sort of ends off camera, and a narrator (Loretta's postscript) spells out the conclusion for the audience, a technique we found way short of stunning. Perhaps the biggest mystery of all is what the title was supposed to mean, as it doesn't seem to relate to anything.
Apparently Ms. Smith is an intellectual and a feminist, having published both non-fiction and learned articles on the way in which women are treated or mis-treated. While there were hints of such issues beneath the surface in this offering, they were really too subtle to contribute anything provocative to an other wise tepid book. Perhaps her non-fiction might be a better bet than Smith's attempts to entertain with mysteries such as this.
May 7, 2016
What Men Say sees Loretta Lawson involved in a police investigation following the discovery of a body at her best friend's house. The action takes place in Oxford, stamping ground of fictional detective Inspector Morse, who is given a nod in the story.
I thought the book might be subtitled "and what women don't say", since the story revolves around the relationship between Loretta and her friend Bridget. Loretta's loyalty to her friend is evident, but Bridget is clearly keeping secrets. The normally inquisitive Loretta chooses to repress her curiosity and leave the investigation to the police.
I was frustrated by the actions of some characters, but enjoyed the portrayal of the relationship between Loretta and Bridget.
I thought the book might be subtitled "and what women don't say", since the story revolves around the relationship between Loretta and her friend Bridget. Loretta's loyalty to her friend is evident, but Bridget is clearly keeping secrets. The normally inquisitive Loretta chooses to repress her curiosity and leave the investigation to the police.
I was frustrated by the actions of some characters, but enjoyed the portrayal of the relationship between Loretta and Bridget.
August 7, 2011
This was an interesting story of the discovery of a woman's decomposed body in the unused barn located on an Oxford don's estate. Smith, of course, had me from the moment I knew this was an academic mystery (my big weakness). And she tells an excellent tale in a solid and entertaining mystery. I liked this one better than the first Loretta Lawson story I read (A Masculine Ending). Loretta's motives regarding her involvement (or, rather, her lack of involvement) with the police are much more believable. Three and a half stars
September 23, 2014
A bit of a disappointment, as very little of the actual detecting gets done by Loretta. This felt too much like a political or feminist pamphlet - and although I like both feminism and politics - I missed the mystery element here.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews