Murder at the PTA Luncheon

Susan Henshaw #1

by Valerie Wolzien

Who put the cyanide in the crab canape? That's what everyone at the PTA luncheon wants to know--and no one more than Susan Henshaw, who was the hostess! Along with a couple of Connecticut state troopers, Susan cooks up a scheme to find the killer.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Amazon

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Valerie Wolzien is the author of the Susan Henshaw suburban mysteries and the Josie Pigeon seashore mysteries. Ms. Wolzien lives in an old house overlooking the Hudson River. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached online at valerie@wolzien.com.

Reviews

[Cozybooklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series

I absolutely adore this series and Susan Henshaw is a great character. She's easy to relate to, she's like your average mom, she gets annoyed with her husband and children, she falls behind in housework, oh, and she has a habit of finding dead bodies.
This is the third time I'm reading this series, and it won't be the last.

[Gale Penton · Rating 5 out of 5]

New author and series for me. I enjoyed this book very much.

[Keepinstitches · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I can't believe that the police would include Susan in all the interviews, I did enjoy the characters and might read her next one. She did nail it on the stupid and unimportant politics involved with the PTA. The ending was a little disappointing because it seemed like it came from nowhere and the motives were so petty. Really? That's why?

[Vicki Gooding · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book kind of caught me by surprise at the end. The only two things I could not understand was why the male cop kept wanting Susan involved and told things when there was no reason to and she didn't understand any of it anyway. Though quite honestly in her defense, friends and PTA would not of rang an organized drug scene until it was painted out in this book. The second thing I couldn't figure out was did Kathleen ever have any type of training? Very personable but pretty ignorant. I did appreciate the diplomacy of Brett. Nice touch.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

First in the series. I think I have read one other by the author (#6) and I noted when I looked back that I only gave that one 2 stars as well. Hmmm, perhaps I should just call it quits with this series.

Mind you that this book is from 1988, so it isn't as contemporary as many of the cozies I read. Lots and lots about the PTA set up and how they work. Yawn, ok.

The murder had already happened when the book started. It took me a while to figure out that we weren't going to hear much about Jan (our first victim). I made assumptions on the randomness of the murder. But when the police start involving Susan, our heroine and MC, in the investigation, including sitting in on interviews, well...that's when you lost me.

So 2 stars max. Just had to force myself through this one.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to this series showing up on kindle unlimited I revisited it and it's been a fun read, for the most part. I enjoyed it the first time around quite a bit, enough to get me reading most of the books that came after but this title on second reading - 20 some years later, not so much. Not sure if it's that it didn't age well or that I grew out of it. Either way the constant making of coffee and food got on my nerves a bit! I liked the story when it involved Susan and the PTA politics but I wasn't too happy with the actually killer - it felt a little unlikely and was a bit of a letdown after everything that came before it.

[Michele Eskelin]

This book had way too many characters. There were so many PTA members, their children, their spouses, the teachers, their spouses, their children; that it was hard to keep track of who everyone was. I was bored. I have already read books in this series further on down the line. It felt like the author was really just trying to introduce the main characters and then add some flair. I didn't care who did it and got tired of reading about the PTA and all that they do. I decided to dnf the book and move on to book #2 in the series.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

murder in snob central.

Most of the characters in this story are not very likeable. People with too much money and no empathy. The police are an exception, but I’m not sure why they involved a suburban housewife so much in their deliberations.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 - boring, dull

[Mrs J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on PTA snobbery

Susan, a PTA member, is present at the separate deaths of two her fellow committee members and is pulled into the police investigation of the murders. For some reason the investigating detective takes her with him as he interviews the suspects and visits the crime scene. Other characters are thrown into the mix and by a random, gun-scatter approach the crimes are solved.
Easy and entertaining read.

[Roxx Tarantini · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting premise . . .

. . . I look forward to watching these characters as they more fully develop over the course of the series.

An intriguing and convoluted plot keeps the reader engaged with many threads that are skillfully brought together at the resolution. A good read overall!

[Johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

well written - just one comment

When this book was rereleased as a digital book, an introduction was needed explaining that the original copyright date was 1988. Otherwise the complete lack of modern technology makes no sense.
Nobody who grew up with cell phones and laptops would understand waiting by a landline for a call or short hand.

[Keren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't care how realistic or unrealistic this is, it's funny and a page turner. I loved all the relatable one-liners about motherhood and suburbia, and this took me back to my 80's childhood in the lazy summer feel of it all. This reminded me of reading The House Next Door with the class divisions, weird couples, parties, and misogyny.

[MichelleW · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book did not age well. The 30-year old sexist and classist attitudes displayed by every character are a bit off-putting. But if you can get past that, this is a slight, very slight, entertaining mystery.

[Sally J Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder at the PTA Luncheon

This is an interesting mystery. All throughout there is something new. The characters are interesting, but the ending was a bit of a surprise. Story is slow moving, but good.

[chrisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a later book in this series and enjoyed it considerably more than I enjoyed this book. I was a bit put off by the obnoxiousness of many of the characters including the two detectives.

[Jenny Schumann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted to read a “cozy murder” book. I guess I always thought these were who dunnit books. Very Agatha Christie like books.

[Carola Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different

It was different but I enjoyed it. I will eventually continue the series. I liked the family. The characters were no all believable but were fun.

[Whitney Breinholt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good premise but was not invested in the main characters like at all. I mean Susan almost died and I was literally indifferent the whole scene.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a new author for me. I enjoyed the book very much.

[Blue Valentine]

Stopped reading about 22% of the way in. I hate not finishing books, especially ones I paid for rather than borrowed or checked out from a library. The problem in this case is that I've had this book for nearly a year now, I'm still not even half-way through it and I doubt I'll be able to push myself to finish it any time soon. Every time I'd try to pick back up where I left off I'd only make it about another 5 pages in before wanting to set it down for another month. In all honesty I started to get very bored with this book very early on. This is due to the near non-stop series of interrogations that take place for majority of the first 25% of the book. I actually liked that the author wanted to give some insight into the politics behind a PTA and provide some background to the characters. But after being over 50 pages in and realizing that it's been nothing but conversation about the PTA and its members, I started to find it more annoying than anything else. I truly do want to like this book, and I definitely don't want to give it a star rating before finishing it. I'm just curious to know if anyone has finished this and can confirm whether or not it keeps this up for the remainder of the book. If so it may unfortunately have a permanent place on my "did not finish" shelf.

[Mary Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book about 20 years ago when I first discovered the Cozy genre. I enjoyed the series and have been looking for some light reading and 20 years is long enough to have forgotten the plots.
The books have been re-released for Kindle and I decided to start with the first book in the series to regain familiarity with the characters.
I’m a bit disappointed, but I’m not sure if that is because the book didn’t hold up to time or if this just wasn’t one of my favorites from the series.

I wish that old books being released in e-reader formats didn’t use the e-reader publication date as the release date as it makes it harder to distinguish between ‘really’ new books and old books in a new format. This info can be found by looking for a hardcopy version of the book and checking its release date. Not difficult to do, but it would be helpful to not need to do the extra step.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for the first book in a series. What always tends to hook me in is that I want to see what happens to the characters in the next book, luckily I several more in this series sitting on my shelf. I also want to see what characters will be back, it can be kind of hard to tell who will develope into regular characters in the series. The mystery in this book was good and as always I was totally surprised by whodunit.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting going back and re-reading this book/author. In this debut of the Susan Henshaw mystery series, Susan's role is primarily that of providing background information to the two investigating officers. Well, that and fixing coffee & food. But what's a wealthy Connecticut suburb SAHM to do when there's a murderer on the loose?

I read this now for a summer mystery group. I think I'm going to have to take the time and schedule in re-reading the rest of the series.

[ChrisGA · Rating 4 out of 5]

First in the series featuring Susan, a housewife and mother in an affluent town in Connecticut. Two members of the PTA executive board are poisoned, and all the others are suspects. It was a trifle unrealistic, I would think, that the police would so involve an ordinary housewife in their professional investigation, but that is the suspension of disbelief that is necessary to enjoy any cozy. Enjoy glimpse of how the rich live. The reason for the murders was both sad and unexpected.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't think I would like this book when I started it, but then it got interesting. I was really suprised with the outcome. I was not expecting who the killer was. Good book if you give it a while to get into.

[Chris Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd rate this one someplace between it was ok and I liked it. At first there were an awful lot of people to keep track of including all the teachers and PTA members plus their spouses and children. As some of them are eliminated it gets easier to read and I enjoyed it more.

[Windy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick, fun, summer read.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent cozy mystery with many characters who may be mistaken for whodunit.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. I'd probably give it a 3.5 really. Not sure I really liked the whole concept though.