The Lost Women of Lost Lake

September 12, 2011
In Hart’s engaging 19th Jane Lawless mystery (after 2010’s The Cruel Ever After), the lesbian restaurateur, who’s taking a well-earned vacation at the family cabin in northern Minnesota, tries to decide once and for all whether to partner with longtime friend PI A.J. Nolan, who recently took a bullet in the stomach meant for her. Meanwhile, Jane’s drama diva BFF, Cordelia Thorn, recruits her to babysit playwright Tessa Cornell, a mutual friend in Lost Lake, Minn., who’s sidelined by a sprained ankle. , The Ayckbourn farce Tessa’s directing can’t go on without her, but Cornelia plans to step in as backup while Jane plays nursemaid. What neither Jane nor Cornelia can fix is Tessa’s frantic distress over the appearance in Lost Lake of a mysterious man in a Chicago White Sox cap, who claims to be looking for a woman he calls Judy Clark. Guns get passed around, and, lickety-split, somebody’s found shot to death. Jane, temporary amateur sleuth, comes to the rescue in this sometimes bittersweet effort.

September 15, 2011

A sleuth gets involved in a melancholy mystery that unravels the dark past of a close friend.

Restaurateur and amateur investigator Jane Lawless and the outrageous (and outrageously outfitted) Cordelia Thorn head to Lost Lake to provide cheer and respite to their friends Tessa and Jill. Jane imagines that her time will be spent cooking for the longtime couple while Tessa's sprained ankle heals, but it appears that something much greater is amiss in their hosts' apparently idyllic lives. Although Tessa's anything but forthcoming about whatever's bothering her, Jill implores Jane to dig a little deeper. The situation is complicated by the arrival of Tessa and Jill's nephew Jonah. The teen, whose girlfriend Emily is a Lost Lake local, seeks refuge at his aunts' place. In Jonah's absence, it appears that Emily may have gotten involved with Kenny, Jonah's closest childhood friend, though neither of the two is being open with Jonah about their new relationship. Tessa and Jill struggle to rise above Jonah's teen drama while Tessa's secrets threaten the health of their otherwise stable union. A new possible love interest, meanwhile, gives Jane a bit of drama of her own.

A distinct improvement in this series, this tale is more coherent than its most recent predecessors (The Cruel Ever After, 2010, etc.), but also more somber in tone.

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October 15, 2011

Lesbian restaurateur Jane Lawless's (The Cruel Ever After) vacation plans are disrupted when friends Jill and Tessa need her sleuthing skills to figure out why a stranger is asking questions around the little resort town of Lost Lake. Turns out Tessa made bad choices during the turmoil of 1968 Chicago, and someone dearly wants revenge. Jane might be an amateur sleuth, but her tenacity gets her to the bottom of the case. A secondary plot featuring teens provides a haunting contrast to Tessa's dilemma as well. VERDICT This engrossing, thought-provoking entry by a Lambda and Minnesota Book Award winner proves that long-running series don't have to lose steam. Hart makes it easy for newcomers to jump in, and regular followers of this series will be glad to see what Jane decides to tell retired detective friend Nolan at the book's conclusion. Topically, consider pairing with Libby Fischer Hellmann's Set the Night on Fire.--Terry Jacobsen, Fairfield, CA

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2011
Can the past ever stay past? In the newest installment in her long-running lesbian amateur-sleuth series, Hart explores the folly of trying to avoid the consequences to one's past catastrophic choices. Although she is on vacation, patronized by police as an amateur, and caught up in the search for a missing person, Minneapolis restaurateur Jane persists in protecting her friends from an increasingly threatening stalker-stranger and in following wherever clues lead her as layers of long-gone years peel away to disclose unexpected revelations. Jane's BFFone of the genre's most appealingly outrageous second bananasartistic director of Minnesota's Allen Grimby Repertory Theater, Cordelia Thorne, is on hand as she substitutes for injured paltheater director Tessa, who's terrified by the vengeful reminder of her past misdeeds. Arson, murder, an incriminating folder of old papers, and secrets within secrets ratchet up tension for new readers and devoted fans alike as Hart delves deeply into regrets, fears, recriminations, and retribution.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)