The Cruel Ever After

Jane Lawless #18

by Ellen Hart

The shock that Minneapolis restaurateur Jane Lawless is in for when Chester Garrity, her ex-husband, returns to a city that he swore he'd never see again is nothing compared to Chester's own. After their divorce many years ago, he took off with his inheritance to travel the world, leaving Jane with enough seed money to open her first restaurant, which worked out well for Jane but less so for Chester.

Now he's back and penniless, or as he would prefer to say, between fortunes. He's working an angle to make his next one by selling a priceless artifact recently looted from the Baghdad Museum, but it all falls through when he wakes up next to the dead body of his buyer with no memory of what happened the night before. Panicked, Chester flees the scene, eventually returning to cover his tracks only to find that someone has already taken care of that for him, but at what price?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, LGBT, Lesbian, Cozy Mystery, Queer, Crime

336 pages, Hardcover

First published December 7, 2010

About the author

Ellen Hart is the author of twenty-eight crime novels in two different series. She is a five-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, a three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Best Popular Fiction, a three-time winner of the Golden Crown Literary Award in several categories, a recipient of the Alice B Medal, and was made an official GLBT Literary Saint at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans in 2005. In 2010, Ellen received the GCLS Trailblazer Award for lifetime achievement in the field of lesbian literature. For the past fourteen years, Ellen has taught "An Introduction to Writing the Modern Mystery" through the The Loft Literary Center, the largest independent writing community in the nation. Ellen's latest Sophie Greenway mystery is No Reservations Required (Ballantine). Rest for the Wicked, the twentieth Jane Lawless mystery, will be released by St. Martin's/Minotaur in October 2012. Bella Books has recently revived the out-of-print books by publishing them in both trade paperback and E-book. Ellen lives in the Minneapolis area with her partner of over 35 years.

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the darkest of the 18 books in this series. Jane Lawless is a restaurant owner in the Twin Cities that has been involved in mysteries surrounding her friends and family for years. She has had finally decided to stop being a PI in training and concentrate on her businesses when out of the blue her “supposedly ex- husband” shows up. Some secrets just don’t stay buried. Along with the ex comes stolen antiquities, murder, mentally ill characters and lies. You can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys. While the story gets resolved it isn’t until the very last pages and it leaves lots of threads hanging. On to the next story. Ellen Hart is a wonderful author.

[Susan Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book...what can I say? The more I read, the more I wanted to read and it just kept throwing things at me that I DID NOT expect. I am now going to have to look for the previous 17 books. Jane Lawless is amazing. In the end, I felt sorry for her husband, Chess ( a whole story in itself! considering they are both gay ) and his friend, Irina.

[Carl Brookins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This, Hart’s nineteenth Jane Lawless mystery, is probably the darkest and most shocking of the series. Difficult to read it is chock full of, painful, difficult relationships and actions. The extensive cast of characters, many of whom fans will have met before, are almost all revealed to have seriously dangerous dark sides. And even when those troublesome and even illegal dimensions of their characters are revealed and confronted by other individuals in the book, they persist in their ways, ways that sometimes tread close to the abyss.
The shocks begin very early when Lawless’s former husband, a man she hasn’t seen for twenty years, appears in Minneapolis. Not only are we more than a little surprised to discover that Jane was married many years ago, she is upset by his appearance, supposedly ‘simply for old times sake.’ It becomes quickly apparent that Chester Garrity, one of the most facile liars and con men you’ll ever meet, has a specific personal agenda. Garrity is a user of anybody and everybody within reach. That he is such, should, it seems to this reader, to be more apparent to Jane than appears to be the case.
That Garrity is also fairly incompetent also becomes obvious. Part of the tragedy is that his incompetence visits appalling harm on the people around him. Almost immediately plans go awry and spiral out of control. Murder results. Garrity demonstrates such a high level of impotence in the face of disaster that it is hard to believe he has managed to stay alive and out of prison for this long.
At roughly the same time that Garrity begins his ill-managed plan to sell antiquities of questionable provenance, a lethal cabal of shadowy vigilantes makes its presence known by murdering a popular gallery owner. Is there a link here? Of course there is, but readers will require almost infinite patience to figure out the links and resolve the tangle of threads and relationships. Patience is particularly important in the first half of the book. After that, with the background and setup in place, the action and the pace pick up. Logic takes firm hold and as the complications and resolutions of the many plot lines become clearer, the author’s grip on her story becomes firmer. The second half of the novel as revelation bangs in on top of revelation and explanation explodes, is all vintage Hart, an excellent writer who is almost always in full command of her work.
There were times however, when I wanted to scream at Jane Lawless, and wondered who was really managing that usually incisive and clever mind.

[A. Nixon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll admit that I didn't realize this was book 18 when I started it. I knew it wasn't the first but... yeah, that might not have been a good choice. I was a little lost when it came to the characters and had some trouble connecting with them emotionally.

I liked the second half of the book better than the first. The first half felt a little clunky and slow. It dragged, for me, even as I was supposed to be getting embroiled in this mystery.

Then the second half was bam!bam!bam! with action and more people getting murdered. Honestly, sometimes that just feels like bad writing - can't think of how to progress the plot? Murder someone else! Can't figure out who's doing the killing? Team!of!mercenaries! How do they get the kid back? Empathetic!mercenary character, yay!

So, yeah. I have some feelings. Overall it wasn't too a bad book and I think if I'd read the other 17 in the series, I'd probably be pretty happy with it? But, as a first foray, not too good.

Also, really, Jane? You love your niece but haven't learned even a tiny bit of sign language so you can communicate with her? I think that was almost the hardest part to believe.

I must say, though, that Irina definitely caught me off guard. That was a very interesting "Wtfffffff?!" moment when Dusty was revealed. Kinda chilling. Kudos to Steve for sticking by her.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to own a feminist bookstore and we sold lots of lesbian titles, many of which were not very good (formulaic romance) but Ellen Hart was an exception. She is a talented writer and I love her Jane Lawless mysteries. Unfortunately I lost track of her a few years ago. Imagine my delight when I found out that she's kept writing and I have a few more of her books to read. In this one Jane is visited by her ex-husband (you need to read the book to find out why jane, an open lesbian, would have a husband) who is involved in a scheme to sell illegal antiquities. The loss of a specific antiquity leads to murder and Jane gets drawn into the search for the suspects because her life becomes at risk as well. Several mysteries abound in this novel and it kept me up all one night.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was #18, it doesn't mention that on the cover. Although the author did list all the characters and who they were in relation to each other on the front, it was still difficult to keep track when the narrator changed so often. It didn't find it particularly "cozy", more like bloody and upsetting. Jane Lawless is not for me I guess.

[Picture Perfect · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never am one to read a series out of order, but considering the first Jane Lawless mystery I read was the latest, there are no rules. This one was super entertaining and I enjoy the staple cast of characters as much as the new ones.

[Patti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again I'm delighted to have recently discovered the Jane Lawless series.

[Susan Moxley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once you start reading it you won’t want to put it down. It will keep you on the edge of the seat guessing what’s going to happen next.

[Tink]

18 down.

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reviewers use the words "engrossing" and "thrilling" to describe the book, but I found it to be neither. Although some of the plot was interesting enough, I found it to be rather dull overall.

[Sarah Thornton]

Holy macaroni

[Sandy Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually this was not a bad mystery, but I didn't particularly like any of the characters.

[Nese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book thinking it was a cozy, but found out it is called “gay mystery genre” and what I call after reading is a well-written mystery heavy on the character development and interpersonal relationships. Based on the writing style and the content of the book, it looks like the author is knowledgeable about the subjects relating to the story she wrote (countries, cultures, antiques, world events, etc.), and she is an excellent judge of the human condition and the complexities of interpersonal relationships. The story flows well, making the reader care about the characters while wondering what is coming next. I also enjoyed the author’s unique way of telling a story and the view of the world reflected in her writing style. Just like cozies, the book doesn’t have graphic violence, sex, or bad language.

[Kathleen Hagen]

The Cruel Ever After, by Ellen Hart, b-plus, Narrated by Aimee Jolson, Produced by Audible Inc. and downloaded from audible.com.

The shock that Minneapolis restaurateur Jane Lawless is in for when Chester Garrity, her ex-husband, returns to a city that he swore he'd never see again
is nothing compared to Chester's own. After their divorce many years ago, he took off with his inheritance to travel the world, leaving Jane with enough
seed money to open her first restaurant, which worked out well for Jane but less so for Chester. Now he's back and penniless, or as he would prefer to
say, between fortunes. He's working an angle to make his next one by selling a priceless artifact recently looted from the Baghdad Museum, but it all falls
through when he wakes up next to the dead body of his buyer with no memory of what happened the night before. Panicked, Chester flees the scene, eventually
returning to cover his tracks only to find that someone has already taken care of that for him, but now this person seems intent on blackmailing him. Jane becomes increasingly angry with Chester and becomes more and more entangled in his intrigue regarding selling stolen artifacts. Cordelia now has Hattie living with her permanently, and Peter and Sigrid have Sigrid’s daughter, Mia, with them. Both children figure prominently in this book.

[Nora-adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cruel Ever After
By: Ellen Hart
Copyright December 2010
Publisher Minotaur Books

Jane Lawless, Minneapolis restaurateur has been in a bit of a slump lately. She is just a few degrees off of normal, what with her love life almost nonexistent, and staying on top of two restaurants while still planning her father’s birthday party. It’s no wonder she’s ready to jump out of her skin when her ex husband Chester Garrity shows up at her restaurant looking for help.

Chester is someone who would qualify as a “hustler” and at the moment he is trying to work a deal to sell a “priceless artifact” which was stolen from the Baghdad Museum. Unfortunately his buy ends up dead and he is fingered for the murder. He needs Jane to help him out, and when the brown stuff hits the fan, she ends up in the middle of the investigation with her BFF Cordelia, she is off to save the day.

Ellen Hart is the Nationally Award winning author of the Jane Lawless Mysteries, and also the Sophie Greenway Mystery Series.

Ms. Hart can be found hanging out at www.ellenhart.com and http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?i...

FTC Full Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library with full intentions of reviewing it.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been a few years since I checked in to see what was new with Jane Lawless, Ellen Hart’s detective, and there are six new books since I last picked one up! What a treat for the beginning of summer! The Cruel Ever After (opposite of “happily ever after”) brings Chess Garrity, Jane’s ex-husband, into the picture. Many years ago, she married him to help him gain an inheritance; although both Jane and Chess are gay, his father’s will did not allow him to inherit unless married to a woman. In return, he gave her a cash settlement that helped her start her first restaurant. Now he’s back in the Twin Cities after living abroad, and what at first seems like a reunion among old friends turns sour when Chess’s presence pulls Jane into some shady dealings regarding antiquities that may have been stolen from Baghdad during the way. The body count rises, Jane is roughed up, and people she loves are endangered. And throughout, Jane wrestles with a tough decision: whether or not to join her friend and mentor Nolan in partnership as a private detective.

[Micheal Fraser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that Ellen Hart should be on the bestsellers lists. Her books are always enjoyable, funny, well plotted and have some of the best characters that you will want to come to back again and again. Her last book, Sweet Poison, was wonderful, one of the better mysteries last year. It is one of those books that reaches out a hand to me and speaks to me and me alone.

Jane Lawless is the owner of a restaurant and a night club in Minneapolis accompained by a diva best freind and a, to-say-the-least,interesting family. All of which are the typical cast of many entertaining mystery series. But Ellen Hart has something more. Her books are infused with a social and moral criticism that elevate her in my mind to a plane that is populated by the likes of Louise Penny. Her human insight strikes a cord.

The book does not come our until December but I would suggest going back to the start and read all of her backlist before this one come out

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first book by Ellen Hart, and now I'm wondering what I've been missing. I requested this book from the library, apparently because I'd heard good things about it somewhere else. I do that sometimes, without really knowing anything about the book. Sometimes I'm disappointed in what I get, but this time I was pleasantly surprised.

I thought the book was well written and the characters interesting and fully formed. As someone pointed out in another review, Jane Lawless and some of the secondary characters are lesbians--but they're true-to-life lesbians, meaning that their sexual preference is just one of a myriad of other characteristics that make them who they are. At least in this book, the characters' sexual preferences are only important as they relate to the plot. Hart doesn't use the book as a platform to make a point or include scenes that might make heterosexual readers uncomfortable.

[Cab · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not read any of the prior books in the series. That being said, I really enjoyed this book. In the past, I have accidentally started a series in the middle and immediately felt like I was missing vital information and, as a result, I found the story line difficult to follow. I did not have that experience when reading this story. Yes there was some obvious relationships that I was missing background on, but this book was written in such a way that the lack of the prior information did not detract from the story. I guess on a negative side, I also don't feel compelled to go back to earlier books and read those. However, I would certainly read the next one in the series.

Overall, this was well written, engaging, and I never guessed who was involved with the murders. There were also a couple of unexpected twists which I enjoyed

[Grey853 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally like the Jane Lawless books, but this one spent way too much time away from Jane and her friends. Instead, more than half was about other characters I could care less about.

We find out that years ago, Jane married a gay man so he could get his inheritance. Out of that deal, she got enough money to start her business. She was supposed to get a quicky divorce, but finds out now that the divorce was phony and she's still married to the man. Turns out he's not only not gay, but also a crook selling antiquities. People want them back and they don't care who they hurt to get them. Bad things happen.

This book would've been 100 percent better if it had stayed focused on Jane and her reactions rather than wandering all over the place.

[Laura Salas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this series by local mystery writer Ellen Hart, but this wasn't one of the strongest ones, I don't think. Jane's ex- but not ex husband shows up. Art theft, etc. Kidnapping of Sigrid and Peter's deaf daughter. I don't remember lots about them or the situation that caused the rift between Peter and Jane, so that was hard.

Julia, her psycho ex-girlfriend, is weaseling her way back in to Jane's life, and Jane is oblivious. Jane seemed a little too oblivious to me in general in this book. I like it when she's smarter and more perceptive. There wasn't enough new and insightful in this entry to make it one of my favorites.

It kind of feels like Ellen's passion for this series might be going the way of Jane's passion for her restaurants: dwindling a bit.

[Dale Rosenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Ellen Hart's Jane Lawless mysteries for the lesbian content, the Minneapolis content, and the characters. The mysteries themselves are not so well plotted and sometimes too predictable, but they are always a fun escapist read. I haven't read them in order, and that hasn't usually been an issue, but I definitely am feeling what I missed in the few books before this one. I do like it when a detective has a life that includes change and growth, rather than stagnation, but it seems major events happened in Jane's life in the previous book or two. I'll have to look for those!

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read the whole series of Jane Lawless books by Ellen Hart, so I like keeping up with Jane's life, friends, family and adventures. Therefore, I enjoyed this book also. Jane's ex-husband shows up. Jane's what? Also, a former lover wants her back. Cordelia is Cordelia. And what is going on with Jane's brother's family? I like the Minneapolis setting, along with the restaurants and theater. There are stolen Iraqi artifact and people are getting killed over them. It is an entertaining mystery.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a couple of summer bike rides down the steep hill (coasting) efforts, Hart gets back to the clever mystery with her vulnerable, interesting characters. You won't see the twist coming, you'll wonder how the character's ongoing dilemmas will be resolved, and you'll convince yourself you knew all along whodunit--and that Jane should be with Kenzie and not get back together with that nutjob Julia!

[Kari Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although in the end I mostly enjoyed this read, as usual I found believability issues with this book. I never want- or really believe- that Jane is as clueless as she is. It's hard for me to imagine, for instance, that she would marry someone she didn't love to get money. I would think as the sleuth that she is that she would read people better, but she doesn't...not Chess and not her lovers/ex-lovers/potential lovers. As a Twin Citian, I do like that her book has familiar places.

[Angie crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was shocked when our local library- had this author. Cinci Ohio is not exactly known for it's tolerance of gays/lesbians.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved Jane. I did feel as though I should have started not this far into the series, I felt like I missed a lot in some of the subplots, but I really enjoyed this book anyways.

This book was a definite winner.

[Daphne Birchfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane was kind of putting her sleuthing skills to work, but it was subtle. she really didn't want to get involved though. i'm kind of sad about chess for some reason i liked him. Jane needs to open her eyes about Julia. its not that hard to see that she still loves her or maybe i should call it an obsession. overall this is one of my favorites. Irina was certified crazy!!!

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best Jane Lawless I've read in a long time. Lots if suspense and a couple of plot twists that I didn't see coming. This book reminded me of the early books in the series which was a pleasant surprise.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

When The Cruel Ever After focuses on Jane and her friends and family, it’s light and enjoyable. But much of the story focuses unlikeable characters, putting a damper on the fun.

Read the full review at http://www.nightsandweekends.com/arti...