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Advice Column Mystery #2
Preaching to the Corpse
When Dr. Butterman's minister is charged with murder, she uncovers cutthroat church politics. It seems the "thou shalt not kill" tenet has a "...unless thou art eliminating the competition."
238 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 2007
12 people are currently reading
268 people want to read
About the author
Roberta Isleib
11 books52 followersNew Jersey born clinical psychologist Roberta Isleib (who also writes as Lucy Burdette) took up writing mysteries to justify too much bad golf. Her Cassie Burdette series was nominated for an Agatha and two Anthony awards. Her new series debuted in March with DEADLY ADVICE, starring a psychologist/advice columnist. PREACHING TO THE CORPSE will follow in December. Roberta is the president of Sisters in Crime National.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
June 1, 2015
Dr. Rebecca Butterman, psychologist and advice columnist, receives a phone call in the wee hours of the morning from the pastor of her church, which catapults her right into a murder mystery. While Dr. Butterman gives excellent advice to her clients and readers, she doesn't always listen to her own inner, rational voice. What follows is an investigation into the murder against the wishes of investigating officer and her semi-crush, Detective Meigs, and several misadventures for Rebecca. From church politics, family troubles and trying to get into the Christmas spirit, Rebecca is determined to find answers. Preaching to the Corpse is well-written and kept me guessing until the end. I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
December 20, 2020
Tastes change--the first time I read this, years ago, I didn't care for it. This time through, I enjoyed the story of Rebecca, a psychologist and advice columnist, who is drawn into the search for a new assistant minister of her church when the former head of the committee is found murdered.. Of course, her friend (and crush) in the police department warns her not to meddle, and of course she does anyway. Rebecca is not as smart as she and her friends think she is, and sometimes her behavior seems unbelievable--would a woman still dealing with trauma from an attempted rape three month ago enter a deserted house with a complete stranger? And this is one of those mysteries that work only because the murderer tries to attack a sleuth who has no idea whodunnit. But I still enjoyed spending time in Rebecca's world.
June 22, 2011
When psychologist /advice columnist Dr. Rebecca Butterman gets a call in the middle of the night from the minister of her church she is not only thrust into a murder mystery (her minister found a parishioner dead in her home) but church politics. The deceased parishioner was a member of a search committee looking for a new assistant pastor and Rebecca takes her place on the committee. Rebecca soon learns how competitive and hostile church politics can be, not to mention dangerous. Rebecca is working with Detective Jack Meigs to solve the case - and fighting her attraction to the married detective.
"Preaching to the Corpse" is the wonderfully done second book in Roberta Isleib's Advice Column mystery series (the first is Deadly Advice (An Advice Column Mystery)). Dr. Rebecca Butterman is one of my favorite fictional characters - she is one of the most complex, well-written characters in a mystery series. She is a psychologist who tries to help other people while she is struggling with her own issues. Divorced, she is still puzzled by her relationship with her ex-husband while struggling with her attraction to Detective Meigs. She is also trying to track down her long lost father, much to the dismay of her sister. I liked the fact that Rebecca is aware of her shortcomings, she is a very human and realistic character. The series takes place in Guilford, Connecticut and the town is as much a character in the book as the humans are. The behind the scene activities of church life are nicely done. The mystery elements are also well done - it is nicely plotted with plenty of suspects and the motive for the murder is believable if sad.
"Preaching to the Corpse" is a good mystery for those that like mysteries with a bit of grit but not a lot of violence. Well done.
"Preaching to the Corpse" is the wonderfully done second book in Roberta Isleib's Advice Column mystery series (the first is Deadly Advice (An Advice Column Mystery)). Dr. Rebecca Butterman is one of my favorite fictional characters - she is one of the most complex, well-written characters in a mystery series. She is a psychologist who tries to help other people while she is struggling with her own issues. Divorced, she is still puzzled by her relationship with her ex-husband while struggling with her attraction to Detective Meigs. She is also trying to track down her long lost father, much to the dismay of her sister. I liked the fact that Rebecca is aware of her shortcomings, she is a very human and realistic character. The series takes place in Guilford, Connecticut and the town is as much a character in the book as the humans are. The behind the scene activities of church life are nicely done. The mystery elements are also well done - it is nicely plotted with plenty of suspects and the motive for the murder is believable if sad.
"Preaching to the Corpse" is a good mystery for those that like mysteries with a bit of grit but not a lot of violence. Well done.
December 7, 2014
I really like the Advice Column Mystery Series by Roberta Isleib. Preaching to the Corpse is the second book in this three book series. In this segment, a member of a church team charged with hiring a replacement minister is murdered and Dr. Rebecca Butterman is called in to counsel the minister who found her and may or may not be a suspect and to replace the murdered woman on the committee. Detective Meigs features prominently in this book as he did in the first, although perhaps not in a way you would expect.
Although I am not at all religious and often find religious themed books insufferable this book managed to have a church related mystery without being preachy. I like the character of Dr. Butterman as the sleuth a great deal, she uses her background to analyze the suspects in a believable manner. I really liked the resolution of the Rebecca and Meigs storyline and Rebecca’s personal life in general. The mystery was well done and I didn’t guess the culprit at all, in fact I had a completely different idea for at least part of the book. This series does not necessarily “read” like a typical cozy but it is lighter mystery with interesting and updated themes. I will be finishing the series with the third book when it comes out on Kindle.
Although I am not at all religious and often find religious themed books insufferable this book managed to have a church related mystery without being preachy. I like the character of Dr. Butterman as the sleuth a great deal, she uses her background to analyze the suspects in a believable manner. I really liked the resolution of the Rebecca and Meigs storyline and Rebecca’s personal life in general. The mystery was well done and I didn’t guess the culprit at all, in fact I had a completely different idea for at least part of the book. This series does not necessarily “read” like a typical cozy but it is lighter mystery with interesting and updated themes. I will be finishing the series with the third book when it comes out on Kindle.
March 21, 2009
This is a very good read, a nice cozy Christmas mystery featuring a lady psychologist who is pretty much screwed up herself after a bad divorce. She writes an advise column for a local newspaper and is sort-of falling in love with a cop who is married to a sick-and-dying woman. Lots of angst. The murder here takes place at her church and it is a liturgical-Christmas mystery about the people of the parish, yet very modern. This author is very good and there are two more books in this series that I just got and hope to read soon. She also has a multi-book mystery series about golfing.
May 25, 2009
Dr. Rebecca Butterman receives a frantic phone call in the middle of the night from her pastor. One of the parishioners was murdered and he's in police custody. After being questioned and released by the police, Reverend Wesley asks Rebecca to fill the Lacy's empty position. Lacy was the chair of the search committee to hire a new assistant pastor. Rebecca agrees hoping this will lead to clues to solving Lacy's murder. Was Lacy killed over her choice for the new assistant pastor? It's up to Rebecca to find out before the killer silences her vote too.
February 13, 2011
This was a harrowing psychological suspense tale meticulously told. Rebecca Butterman is smart, sympathetic, and caring, a female sleuth whose advice you can trust. I will definitely look forward to the next installment.
January 18, 2015
I like all of this author's work, under both her names.
This is an entertaining psychological mystery with interesting church overtones.
Plus, the main character is still trying to figure out where she stands with the sort-of married detective.
Well written and entertaining.
This is an entertaining psychological mystery with interesting church overtones.
Plus, the main character is still trying to figure out where she stands with the sort-of married detective.
Well written and entertaining.
January 14, 2022
Between counseling patients full-time and writing an advice column part-time, psychologist Rebecca Butterman volunteers at her church to find a new minister after all current and previous ministers seem to have gone astray. She must also deal with problems at home after a divorce, unresolved issues with her own father who deserted the family after Rebecca's mother died, a crush on the local police chief who is married, and solving the murder of a church lady who knew everything about everyone. Infused with religious overtones; not for me. Rebecca is overloaded with solving everyone's problems.
March 20, 2017
This second book in the series set in Coastal CT doesn't disappoint. The main character, Rebecca, a psychologist has been asked to help at her church by being on the search committee for a new assistant minister. All the politics within the members of the church group is so believable - but most churches don't have people who resort to murder!
November 8, 2020
Nice mystery. Pleasant atmosphere. Glad I read it.
May 21, 2025
Dr. Rebecca Butterman is embroiled in cutthroat church politics when asked to be a church committee to find a new assistant minister. Who knew church could be such a deadly place!
July 12, 2008
Connecticut is the setting for a surprisingly small number of mysteries, compared to its sister state New Jersey. (Then again people seldom make fun of Connecticut, so it all evens out). It's true that Connecticut is the third smallest state in area, but it is fairly thickly populated, and has a variety of classic mystery settings -- gritty cities, ritzy suburbs, small towns, museums, colleges and prep schools -- and churches!
When I saw that Roberta Isleib's second "Advice Column Mystery" dealt with a church pastoral search committee, I knew this was the book I wanted to read. My church (the same denomination as the one in her book) is currently seeking an interim minister and will soon be forming a search committee for a settled pastor; and my daughter recently graduated from seminary and is awaiting (or pursuing) her first call. I hope our respective search committees don't run into the same problems as the one at Shoreline Congregational Church did in the book!
Isleib's protagonist, Dr. Rebecca Butterman, is a recently divorced psychologist who sees patients but also writes an advice column. In a previous book she's made the acquaintance of a local, attractive, and unavailable policeman. A middle of the night phone call from him summons her to the hospital, where the head of her church's search committee has just died, after being found by the minister, who's very distraught. (The search is for an associate minister,) Reverend Wesley (Wesley is his first name) prevails on Rebecca to take on the chairship of the committee. She is also concerned to clear Rev. Wesley of suspicion, since he was the last to see the poisoning victim alive and hence is a major suspect.
Her policeman friend asks her to keep her eyes open, but of course she gets into a bit of trouble carrying her investigation farther than he would like. During the course of the investigation, Rebecca will learn a lot of secrets and deal with many of the major issues facing churches today. She will also see clients, meet deadlines, deal with family issues, start dating, and -- oh yes -- it's Christmastime. I felt Isleib kept a nice balance between the mystery elements and the other aspects of Rebecca's daily life.
The setting, a small-town area east of New Haven, is depicted realistically as far as I can tell (I lived west of New Haven for several years as a child and teenager.) I was a little surprised at the apparent condo-ization of eastern Long Island Sound, but then I remembered what's happened to my hometown area here in Maine and realized the same thing probably applies there. Except for a couple of minor quibbles which I'll communicate privately, I felt that the author did an amazingly good job with the ins and outs of Congregational (United Church of Christ) polity and the way churches work in general. I enjoyed the book greatly and will look forward to reading more "Advice Column Mysteries." I would definitely recommend this one.
When I saw that Roberta Isleib's second "Advice Column Mystery" dealt with a church pastoral search committee, I knew this was the book I wanted to read. My church (the same denomination as the one in her book) is currently seeking an interim minister and will soon be forming a search committee for a settled pastor; and my daughter recently graduated from seminary and is awaiting (or pursuing) her first call. I hope our respective search committees don't run into the same problems as the one at Shoreline Congregational Church did in the book!
Isleib's protagonist, Dr. Rebecca Butterman, is a recently divorced psychologist who sees patients but also writes an advice column. In a previous book she's made the acquaintance of a local, attractive, and unavailable policeman. A middle of the night phone call from him summons her to the hospital, where the head of her church's search committee has just died, after being found by the minister, who's very distraught. (The search is for an associate minister,) Reverend Wesley (Wesley is his first name) prevails on Rebecca to take on the chairship of the committee. She is also concerned to clear Rev. Wesley of suspicion, since he was the last to see the poisoning victim alive and hence is a major suspect.
Her policeman friend asks her to keep her eyes open, but of course she gets into a bit of trouble carrying her investigation farther than he would like. During the course of the investigation, Rebecca will learn a lot of secrets and deal with many of the major issues facing churches today. She will also see clients, meet deadlines, deal with family issues, start dating, and -- oh yes -- it's Christmastime. I felt Isleib kept a nice balance between the mystery elements and the other aspects of Rebecca's daily life.
The setting, a small-town area east of New Haven, is depicted realistically as far as I can tell (I lived west of New Haven for several years as a child and teenager.) I was a little surprised at the apparent condo-ization of eastern Long Island Sound, but then I remembered what's happened to my hometown area here in Maine and realized the same thing probably applies there. Except for a couple of minor quibbles which I'll communicate privately, I felt that the author did an amazingly good job with the ins and outs of Congregational (United Church of Christ) polity and the way churches work in general. I enjoyed the book greatly and will look forward to reading more "Advice Column Mysteries." I would definitely recommend this one.
December 13, 2010
In a word: OK
*possible subtle spoilers*
While I enjoyed the mystery part of this book and the setting (Christmas time in New England) I didn't really like the heroine much. The heroine is Dr. Rebecca Butterman, a divorced successful psychologist who writes an advice column. What I didn't like about her, was she was so judgemental of people. She came across as being self righteous and looking down her nose at the people around her. I didn't like that. Also, she was crushing on a married cop whose wife was dying of Lou Gehrig's disease- how freaking low can a person go? Every time she saw him she'd blush like crazy and act all stupid. The guy wasn't showing any interest in her that way, yet she acted like a little school girl around him. Totally irritating.
While I couldn't solve the "who-done-it" mystery part (which is a good thing, I hate figuring it out early in a mystery book), the mystery its self was sort of ... bizarre. I just didn't see why anyone would commit murder just to keep a good preacher in their church. That made no sense to me. I was thinking there was some deep dark secret as to why someone would be murdering people or trying to murder people and the only reason given was the preacher was so good, the nut job didn't want someone else taking over. Total disappointment.
What carried the book for me, was the setting and the numerous 'could-be' killer characters. There were a few people who looked like they might have motive and that carried the mystery along. Unfortunately for this book, the people with the 'might have motive' ended up having far better motives to commit murder than the actual murderer. It was just weird and disappointing.
This was the second book in a series and I did not read the first book. Perhaps I would have liked it better if I had, but this was a stand alone mystery so it should have worked, but it did not.
The best thing about the book: the cover art
*possible subtle spoilers*
While I enjoyed the mystery part of this book and the setting (Christmas time in New England) I didn't really like the heroine much. The heroine is Dr. Rebecca Butterman, a divorced successful psychologist who writes an advice column. What I didn't like about her, was she was so judgemental of people. She came across as being self righteous and looking down her nose at the people around her. I didn't like that. Also, she was crushing on a married cop whose wife was dying of Lou Gehrig's disease- how freaking low can a person go? Every time she saw him she'd blush like crazy and act all stupid. The guy wasn't showing any interest in her that way, yet she acted like a little school girl around him. Totally irritating.
While I couldn't solve the "who-done-it" mystery part (which is a good thing, I hate figuring it out early in a mystery book), the mystery its self was sort of ... bizarre. I just didn't see why anyone would commit murder just to keep a good preacher in their church. That made no sense to me. I was thinking there was some deep dark secret as to why someone would be murdering people or trying to murder people and the only reason given was the preacher was so good, the nut job didn't want someone else taking over. Total disappointment.
What carried the book for me, was the setting and the numerous 'could-be' killer characters. There were a few people who looked like they might have motive and that carried the mystery along. Unfortunately for this book, the people with the 'might have motive' ended up having far better motives to commit murder than the actual murderer. It was just weird and disappointing.
This was the second book in a series and I did not read the first book. Perhaps I would have liked it better if I had, but this was a stand alone mystery so it should have worked, but it did not.
The best thing about the book: the cover art
September 25, 2016
Who knew that searching for a new pastor would be so difficult and so deadly? Dr. Rebecca Butterman had no intentions of becoming a member of the pastoral search committee, but when Lacy Bailes is found dead and an intern pastor is sent careening down a greased staircase, Rebecca takes it upon herself to not only find out why the last pastor left suddenly, but also discover who wanted Lacy out of the way, and in so doing, finds a couple of secrets among these upstanding citizens.
This is the second book in the Advice Column Mysteries series and unfortunately, it is no better than the first. I found both of the books to be on the uninspired side and though Roberta Isleib tries to create interest in her characters, they come out to be on the dull side. She tries to add in a couple of sparks between Rebecca and Detective Meigs who we found out in the last book is married, but still there is nothing there. Maybe this new Bob person will spark something in book number three.
I am not going to completely discount this series since there is still one more book, I will read it but at the same time, if it is like the previous two, I will be glad when it is over.
This is the second book in the Advice Column Mysteries series and unfortunately, it is no better than the first. I found both of the books to be on the uninspired side and though Roberta Isleib tries to create interest in her characters, they come out to be on the dull side. She tries to add in a couple of sparks between Rebecca and Detective Meigs who we found out in the last book is married, but still there is nothing there. Maybe this new Bob person will spark something in book number three.
I am not going to completely discount this series since there is still one more book, I will read it but at the same time, if it is like the previous two, I will be glad when it is over.
December 20, 2009
PROTAGONIST: Dr. Rebecca Butterman, psychologist
SETTING: Guilford, Connecticut
SERIES: 2 of 2
RATING: No rating
WHY: This is not the kind of book I normally care for at all, but due to poor planning on my part, was the only book I had to read on a recent business flight which explains why I finished it. The amateur sleuth conducts an ongoing investigation of a murder despite repeated direction from the police not to do so. She is a psychologist but has no self confidence about making her own decisions and always has to seek advice from others. It was written well enough that I think folks who like amateur sleuth type series will enjoy this. Just not my cuppa.
SETTING: Guilford, Connecticut
SERIES: 2 of 2
RATING: No rating
WHY: This is not the kind of book I normally care for at all, but due to poor planning on my part, was the only book I had to read on a recent business flight which explains why I finished it. The amateur sleuth conducts an ongoing investigation of a murder despite repeated direction from the police not to do so. She is a psychologist but has no self confidence about making her own decisions and always has to seek advice from others. It was written well enough that I think folks who like amateur sleuth type series will enjoy this. Just not my cuppa.
December 13, 2008
The main character Rebecca is a shrink and an advice columnist, but you sure couldn't tell it by how she behaves. She spent most of her time pining over the married detective. At one point she even cries because some cop is "nasty" with her for driving on the wrong side of the road. I have to say, that put me off for the rest of the book.
The mystery itself was okay. I finished it, but was bored for several stretches and tempted to skim, never a good sign.
The mystery itself was okay. I finished it, but was bored for several stretches and tempted to skim, never a good sign.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 7, 2015
Great plot line that left you scrambling for clues to figure out who did it! The character development was significantly improved in this book. I'm so glad that I gave this series a second chance. Now, I need to get the next book in the series to see what antics this sleuthing therapist gets into next!
March 28, 2019
It was a very cozy book. I did not like the fact that the person who "did it" wasn't really on the radar in the book. It is one thing to have red herrings but to bring someone in at the end is the worst ending for a mystery! I might read another book by the author but with caution. If this is her MO then I will pass.
May 9, 2008
OK. A little choppy in places but overall a average mystery.
March 8, 2009
Advice columnist/psychologist turns detective in this typical whodunnit.
April 28, 2009
Quick good read! Didn't go above my (limited) tolerance for religion. Advice Column Mystery #3
July 2, 2009
I especially enjoyed the psychologist as protagonist.
April 29, 2010
Interesting characters and a solid story line.
April 2, 2011
Not as dark as the first mystery in this series. Still a good plot that has you guessing until the end. I enjoy this series much more than the writer's mysteries based on the Woman's Pro Golf Tour.
February 27, 2011
A nice cozy. Flowed well and had a good plot. Very enjoyable. Wonder what the third book will bring? Will Dr. Butterman and Meigs get togw=ether??
February 6, 2017
cozy mystery series.
December 16, 2010
Quick read, not quite as entertaining as I thought it would be, but I still liked it.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews