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Grace & Favor #4
Love for Sale
If Lily and Robert Brewster no longer have a penny to their names, at least they have a roof over their heads in this bleak Depression November of 1932 -- the sprawling estate of their late great-uncle in Voorburg-on-Hudson. But then a badly disguised stranger offers to pay generously to hold a very secret meeting there shortly before the national election. And soon one of the mystery guests is murdered in his bath, a local grade school teacher goes missing, and a little boy is kidnapped. With Pretty Boy Floyd rumored to be somewhere near, the nasty business smacks of underworld activity -- or possible political conspiracy aimed at sabotaging Roosevelt's election. Either way, Chief Howard Walker has nowhere to house all the suspects except at the local Hospital for the Criminally Insane. And the Brewster siblings are going to have their hands full tying the various ends together . . . and ferreting out the killer who abused their hospitality.
266 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
2 people are currently reading
283 people want to read
About the author
Jill Churchill
42 books200 followersA pseudonym used by Janice Young Brooks.
Jill Churchill, winner of the Agatha and Macavity Mystery Readers Awards, and nominated for an Anthony for her best-selling Jane Jeffry series, lives as Jane does, in a midwestern suburb. On purpose! She says writing this series and the Grace and Favor series is the best treat she can have without a knife and fork.
Under her real name, Janice Young Brooks, and various pseudonyms, she's written historical novels, a gothic novel, and a history textbook as well as many articles for newspapers and magazines. When she's not writing, she's avidly doing genealogy which she says is a lot like mysteries with all the red herrings, clues, speculations, and surprises.
She gardens enthusiastically, needlepoints superbly, and plays a mean game of gin against the computer. She has a son and daughter and two granddaughters, Rose Louise and Emma. Janice is currently in a battle of supremacy with her cat Max.
Jill Churchill, winner of the Agatha and Macavity Mystery Readers Awards, and nominated for an Anthony for her best-selling Jane Jeffry series, lives as Jane does, in a midwestern suburb. On purpose! She says writing this series and the Grace and Favor series is the best treat she can have without a knife and fork.
Under her real name, Janice Young Brooks, and various pseudonyms, she's written historical novels, a gothic novel, and a history textbook as well as many articles for newspapers and magazines. When she's not writing, she's avidly doing genealogy which she says is a lot like mysteries with all the red herrings, clues, speculations, and surprises.
She gardens enthusiastically, needlepoints superbly, and plays a mean game of gin against the computer. She has a son and daughter and two granddaughters, Rose Louise and Emma. Janice is currently in a battle of supremacy with her cat Max.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
May 25, 2019
2 1/2 stars. A breezy and fun read. The mystery is a little obvious but the different characters are interesting and you become invested in them; you want to see what happens to them next. So of course, you are tempted to read more in the series.
One thing that bugged me even though it was only a small bit of the book: was how many characters didn't like the murder victim because of his bigotry. There was a lot of bigotry during that time against Jews. People may not have liked a hate filled religious speech on the radio but few people would have spoken out against it. In fact, many would have supported some of those ideas. Anti-Semitic feelings were strong throughout the world, even in America. Don't whitewash things. Don't make it seem that America was a stronghold of anti-prejudice. It wasn't. To do so lets people think atrocities and suspension of our civil liberties could never happen here. It can. It is. If we don't remember the truth it can be repeated. (I'm not mentioning prejudice against African-Americans because that doesn't happen in this book. There are no African-Americans. There probably weren't any in this community at this time.)
Now I'm off my high horse. It really isn't full of bigotry and prejudice. It is only a small point to make the victim offensive.
One thing that bugged me even though it was only a small bit of the book: was how many characters didn't like the murder victim because of his bigotry. There was a lot of bigotry during that time against Jews. People may not have liked a hate filled religious speech on the radio but few people would have spoken out against it. In fact, many would have supported some of those ideas. Anti-Semitic feelings were strong throughout the world, even in America. Don't whitewash things. Don't make it seem that America was a stronghold of anti-prejudice. It wasn't. To do so lets people think atrocities and suspension of our civil liberties could never happen here. It can. It is. If we don't remember the truth it can be repeated. (I'm not mentioning prejudice against African-Americans because that doesn't happen in this book. There are no African-Americans. There probably weren't any in this community at this time.)
Now I'm off my high horse. It really isn't full of bigotry and prejudice. It is only a small point to make the victim offensive.
June 3, 2012
Where to begin...
This book had promise, but its elementary plot and slow progression disappointed me. I enjoy mysteries that keep you guessing, that have a hint or a clue on every page. There seemed to be a lot of superfluous detail in this story (two pathetically obvious romances, the voting stuff), which acted as nothing but a distraction and added nothing to the "mystery" at hand.
I kept hoping things would pick up, but after one of Grace & Favor's guests is murdered, the obvious scapegoat was fingered as the main suspect, which started a series of automatic eye-roll reactions that continued until I'd finished the book. The killer is just as obvious as the scapegoat, and the end reads like a script from that Scooby-Doo TV show. Everything is explained (via the murderer's confession, of course), and the only thing missing is the line "If it weren't for those meddling kids!" Oh, and a talking dog.
And I'm still trying to figure out what the title has to do with the story!
I've been looking for a good female mystery writer (besides Agatha Christie) for a while now. The search continues...
This book had promise, but its elementary plot and slow progression disappointed me. I enjoy mysteries that keep you guessing, that have a hint or a clue on every page. There seemed to be a lot of superfluous detail in this story (two pathetically obvious romances, the voting stuff), which acted as nothing but a distraction and added nothing to the "mystery" at hand.
I kept hoping things would pick up, but after one of Grace & Favor's guests is murdered, the obvious scapegoat was fingered as the main suspect, which started a series of automatic eye-roll reactions that continued until I'd finished the book. The killer is just as obvious as the scapegoat, and the end reads like a script from that Scooby-Doo TV show. Everything is explained (via the murderer's confession, of course), and the only thing missing is the line "If it weren't for those meddling kids!" Oh, and a talking dog.
And I'm still trying to figure out what the title has to do with the story!
I've been looking for a good female mystery writer (besides Agatha Christie) for a while now. The search continues...
November 8, 2018
When a disguised man offers a deposit of $500 to hold a weekend meeting at Grace and Favor House, it seems too good to be true. The money is real, but the chief guest ends up murdered in his bathtub. A lot happens before the Brewsters and Chief Walker solve the murder. As always, there are interesting subplots involving the townspeople of Voorburg. The election of FDR and the construction of the Hoover Dam add historical interest. Recommended.
July 29, 2008
As much as I like the Grace and Favor books, this one just didn't live up to the others as much. But it is still good and I do recommend.
It was a weird, convoluted read, and while you may pick the "bad guy" out early on, and the reasons behind it, it still takes you for a mental rollercoaster of a ride trying to sort out the stories.
Blurb from Author's site:
LOVE FOR SALE
Sister and brother Lily and Robert Brewster raised in the lap of luxury, may no longer have a penny to their names. But at least they have a roof over their heads — which is more than may can say in this bleak November of 1932. And now there’s even some cash rolling in, since the Brewsters have taken part time teaching duties at the local grade school.
But their luck turns sour when a mysteriously and badly disguised stranger comes to Grace and Favor wishing to pay generously to have a very secret meeting there shortly before the national election of either Hoover or Roosevelt. Are they gangsters? Pretty Boy Floyd is rumored to be somewhere near. Worse yet, are they a rabid political group trying to stop Roosevelt being elected at last minute by making up some real dirt about him?
When one of the mystery guests is murdered in his bath, and Mary Towerton’s little boy is kidnapped, the pace becomes hectic. In the end a local woman Lily has made friends with, a secretary from upriver, and one of the children at the school provide the vital clues that allow Lily to put two and two together, but only after a wild car chase with three women drivers.
It was a weird, convoluted read, and while you may pick the "bad guy" out early on, and the reasons behind it, it still takes you for a mental rollercoaster of a ride trying to sort out the stories.
Blurb from Author's site:
LOVE FOR SALE
Sister and brother Lily and Robert Brewster raised in the lap of luxury, may no longer have a penny to their names. But at least they have a roof over their heads — which is more than may can say in this bleak November of 1932. And now there’s even some cash rolling in, since the Brewsters have taken part time teaching duties at the local grade school.
But their luck turns sour when a mysteriously and badly disguised stranger comes to Grace and Favor wishing to pay generously to have a very secret meeting there shortly before the national election of either Hoover or Roosevelt. Are they gangsters? Pretty Boy Floyd is rumored to be somewhere near. Worse yet, are they a rabid political group trying to stop Roosevelt being elected at last minute by making up some real dirt about him?
When one of the mystery guests is murdered in his bath, and Mary Towerton’s little boy is kidnapped, the pace becomes hectic. In the end a local woman Lily has made friends with, a secretary from upriver, and one of the children at the school provide the vital clues that allow Lily to put two and two together, but only after a wild car chase with three women drivers.
June 4, 2021
It’s 1932, and siblings Lily and Robert have little to their name except for the mansion left to them by a relative. But there are strings attached to their inheritance. They must live in the mansion, and take in borders to make ends meet. When a badly disguised man wants to rent some rooms for a few days for some meetings, and offers a goodly amount of cash, they agree. But then one of the visitors is murdered, and now, the police must find the right motive to catch the killer. It’s a rather slow paced mystery, with much of the time taken up with character development and descriptions of the time and place. With historical aspects of the depression included, readers will see what life was like for these once affluent but now poor siblings. We see them finding odd jobs, helping others in even worse straits, and working with others in a spirit of community. It’s not a page turner, but still a worthwhile story.
January 11, 2022
I like Robert and Lily very much, and the unique circumstances of Grace & Favor are still working for me. That being said, there are some things that bothered me about the windup of the mystery. After the nice sheriff keeps saying he’s making no headway for 7/8 of the book, it’s suddenly all over very fast. Then the villain’s story seems designed to cultivate some sympathy, but then the characters all refer to the person as “horrible” and it just felt a little strange or even unfair to me.
January 26, 2022
This is one of the best books in the series. Brings to light the evil of some radio evangelists of the depression era. This one ends up murdered in the Grace and Favor manor. There were 4 other people staying there who worked with him are suspects and are held in the manor. The ending is great and totally unexpected
February 25, 2022
This was wonderful mystery. It’s set during the Depression around the election between Hoover and Roosevelt. I love it when I learn new things reading and “Love for Sale” taught me so much about life during that period. From mystery meetings, election fervor, the building of Hoover Dam to kidnapping and murder this story has it all! This was a fun read!
July 24, 2017
Lily is approached by a mysterious man wearing a hat, dark glasses, muffler, and a very bad wig... He wants to rent out a few rooms of Grace & Favor for a private meeting and he gives her $500 cash.
In the meantime the local schoolteacher has gone home for removal of her appendix and both Lily & Robert are hired to fill-in for her.
The mysterious guest turns out to be a well known Evangelical Faith-Healing Preacher w/ a proclivity towards sexual harassment & abuse of his female employees.... When he turns up both stabbed & drowned in his tub at Grace & Favor Manor, there is no lacking of suspects.
I'm not sure what the title has to do with anything, as the women involved were not "selling" anything...
But it was a fast & easy interesting read.
In the meantime the local schoolteacher has gone home for removal of her appendix and both Lily & Robert are hired to fill-in for her.
The mysterious guest turns out to be a well known Evangelical Faith-Healing Preacher w/ a proclivity towards sexual harassment & abuse of his female employees.... When he turns up both stabbed & drowned in his tub at Grace & Favor Manor, there is no lacking of suspects.
I'm not sure what the title has to do with anything, as the women involved were not "selling" anything...
But it was a fast & easy interesting read.
May 9, 2022
Overall a good mystery. It was a little slow-moving and the ending was abrupt. There were also a few loose ends, like who kidnapped that little boy, and who was the preacher’s son, and why did Mrs. Towerton’s side story of her husband dying even matter? Anyway, the murder was wrapped up, so there’s that. I was really hoping all the little stories would tie in to the main plot, but that wasn’t the case.
November 12, 2024
This was a quick, light read. The characters are likeable. But I have a question.
Why was the knife never mentioned? I mean seriously. The guy is stabbed and NO ONE describes the type of knife, the size, the color, nothing! Although they fingerprint EVERYTHING else, no one mentions fingerprints on the knife. They say that prints were wiped from the tub, but the knife just disappears from the story. Even when the perpetrator is describing their actions, the knife is irrelevant. Bizarre!
Why was the knife never mentioned? I mean seriously. The guy is stabbed and NO ONE describes the type of knife, the size, the color, nothing! Although they fingerprint EVERYTHING else, no one mentions fingerprints on the knife. They say that prints were wiped from the tub, but the knife just disappears from the story. Even when the perpetrator is describing their actions, the knife is irrelevant. Bizarre!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 21, 2017
Enjoy this series, although this book did not feature the main characters enough.
April 7, 2018
It was fine for a light read (as in an Easy book to pick up and read whenever you get a few minutes).
November 15, 2018
2 - Didn't Like It
February 23, 2019
I love this series, I love its characters. I’m not saying it is great American literature, but they are great cozy mysteries.
Read
August 7, 2019I love hoe she makes you think about how tough times were. the different in how people did things like , make sure you had time to eat a meal and talk to people at the dinner table.
August 13, 2019
I liked this one, I’m anxious for number 5! This one had interesting characters and little twists in the story that kept me guessing.
May 1, 2022
I do not enjoy reading about rape.
May 26, 2022
Read May 2022
Straight to bookmooch.com
Straight to bookmooch.com
June 10, 2023
Set in the early 1930s. An interesting mystery.
April 21, 2024
I was losing interest after the first 100pages.
April 15, 2025
An okay read. The story just didn't grab me.
March 15, 2017
I am inexplicably drawn to this series. Everything is a bit too pat and simplistic but I eat them right up.
November 3, 2009
This is very light reading, but cute. I'm reading a heavy book about Russia, so this is a little relief. Grace and Favor is a mansion with strings attached. Robert and Lily were two rich young siblings at the time of Stock Market crash. Their wealthy father lost everything and killed himself. They were penniless when an uncle died and left them a mansion with a lot of strings. They have to stay there for 10 years, get jobs and give back to the town. They turn Grace and Favor into a boarding house with some interesting guests. The town just happens to have all sorts of crimes that connect somehow to the mansion. A friendly sheriff relies on help from Robert and Lily. In this case, a cheating radio preacher gets killed at the manor and there are all sorts of suspects. There are also some other things going around town, but all the strings are tied up neatly in the end.
There are some very promising characters in this book, but they need to be fleshed out more. I don't get a sense of the town either.
There are some very promising characters in this book, but they need to be fleshed out more. I don't get a sense of the town either.
January 28, 2015
If Lily and Robert Brewster no longer have a penny to their names, at least they have a roof over their heads in this bleak Depression November of 1932 -- the sprawling estate of their late great-uncle in Voorburg-on-Hudson. But then a badly disguised stranger offers to pay generously to hold a very secret meeting there shortly before the national election. And soon one of the mystery guests is murdered in his bath, a local grade school teacher goes missing, and a little boy is kidnapped. With Pretty Boy Floyd rumored to be somewhere near, the nasty business smacks of underworld activity -- or possible political conspiracy aimed at sabotaging Roosevelt's election. Either way, Chief Howard Walker has nowhere to house all the suspects except at the local Hospital for the Criminally Insane. And the Brewster siblings are going to have their hands full tying the various ends together . . . and ferreting out the killer who abused their hospitality.
I liked that Lily and Robert let the detective do the investigating - for the most part.
I liked that Lily and Robert let the detective do the investigating - for the most part.
March 16, 2015
Robert and Lily certainly are living different lives than they did before the crash of 1929. They were once Park Ave. Socialites, who had been reduced to living in a cold water flat. Now they live upstate in a mansion turned boardinghouse. According to their late uncle's will, they have to live there for 10 years and earn their own living before they can inherit the estate. They find all kinds of ways to earn a living and help their neighbor's as well. They rent out some rooms for a weekend to a group that Robert mistakenly believes is political, hoping it has to do with ensuring that FDR gets elected. Imagine their shock when the group's leader is murdered and turns out to be a radio evangelist who in reality is a nasty person who fleeces his believers out of their money. Interesting to read about this era. These stories are fun to read!
January 28, 2016
Lily and Robert Brewster inherited a mansion from their great uncle but they have to live in it for 10 years before inheriting it so to make money they rent rooms. A mysterious man wearing a bad wig rents room for a group for the weekend right before the big election between Hoover and Roosevelt. Then the mysterious man is murdered and Lily and Robert are once again thrust into the investigation. meanwhile a local teacher has disappeared and Lily and Robert are teaching her classes and Mr. Prinney is trying to figure out whether a local man actually died while helping build the Hoover dam or if there has been a clerical error. There isn't a huge mystery here more spending time with characters with a bit of investigation thrown in. It was nice to revisit the series though this isn't the strongest entry in the series.
December 7, 2008
Fun light read set in the great depression. This is part of the Grace and Favor Series. A very rich brother and sister find themselves trying to earn a living after their family looses all their money in the crash and their parents die. They are barely making it when their eccentric Uncle leaves them a huge mansion in upstate NY. But there are lots of strings attached to the inheritance. The mysteries are set around the mansion that they have turned into a bed and breakfast/boarding house. A radio preacher and some of his followers has come to hide out. The Reve Goodheart is found stabbed to death in his bath. Who done it??
May 1, 2009
I cannot explain why I keep reading these books. Repeatedly, these books offer pages of completely insignificant detail while providing virtually no character development or even much in the way of backstory. It takes a whole chapter for Mrs Tarkington to move into Grace and Favor and two sentences to explain why. This is backwards story-telling. And yet I keep reading. Go figure.
(And while I appreciate the song-titles-as-book-titles gimmick, one would think some attempt might be made at relevancy. This is a book about a murdered crooked preacher. "Love for Sale" is at best, a HUGE stretch with a twist.)
(And while I appreciate the song-titles-as-book-titles gimmick, one would think some attempt might be made at relevancy. This is a book about a murdered crooked preacher. "Love for Sale" is at best, a HUGE stretch with a twist.)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews