Quiche Before Dying

by Jill Churchill

Book Overview

With her kids away for the summer, Jane Jeffry enrolls in a writing course at the community center and gets an opportunity to practice her sleuthing skills when a classmate keels over dead during a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380769328
• ISBN13: 9780380769322
• Release Date: February 1993
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Nicely Done Cozy Mystery

Jane Jeffry's mother Cecily is in town on a visit and she and Jane sign up for a writing class at the local community center. Cecily has traveled all over the world and thinks the class on writing autobiographies is a good way of preserving her memories. Jane and her friend Shelley Nowack are taking the class to keep Cecily company, but Jane soon discovers she may have a talent for writing. Jane's enjoying the class, although she wishes the obnoxious Agnes Pryce hadn't signed up as well. Jane's not the only one who doesn't like Mrs. Pryce and when she demands that the entire class attend a pot luck dinner at her house, someone takes the opportunity to poison Mrs. Pryce's quiche during that dinner. Even though the police, including Jane's friend Detective Mel Van Dyne, are investigating the murder, Jane does a little snooping of her own, since someone used the quiche that Jane made to poison Mrs. Pryce. When someone starts leaving Jane a series of clues, she realizes who the murderer is and that the truth isn't always easy to handle. "A Quiche Before Dying" is another delightful entry in Jill Churchill's Jane Jeffry cozy mystery series. In this, the third book in the series, Jane is really developing as a character, as she is leaving the memory of her late husband behind and coming into her own as a person. The little tidbits about the writing class and Jane's discovery that she may have the talent to be a writer are a fascinating glimpse into the world of writing. Two of Jane's children, Mike and Todd, are away for most of the book, but Jane's interactions with her daughter Katie add to the realism in the book. And it was nice to meet Jane's mother Cecily, who added yet another dimension to Jane's character. I also loved the way the romance between Jane and Mel is developing. Jane's writing classmates and teacher are all well written and great suspects: teacher Missy who writes romance novels; the affable Grady Wells; sisters Ruth Rogers and Naomi Smith; the offbeat Desiree Loftus; and ex-military man Bob Neufield. The mystery elements are well written and well plotted and with so many suspects readers will have fun trying to figure out who the killer is. Churchill has a tendency for Agatha Christie like scenes in her books when the murderer is revealed, which can be a bit unbelievable, but in this case it does add some poignancy to the end of this book. "A Quiche Before Dying" is a nicely done cozy mystery.

Macho Bacon & Spicy Swiss, Please!

On the back flap of my copy of this paperback is a quote from Mysteries By Mail: "Jane Jeffry is a cross between Miss Marple and Erma Bombeck." That comment toots-the-bugle on target, and the 1993 copyright date sets the receding edge of the Bombeck boom, a blip in the Quiche resurrection, and the finality of my age at 57-years-and-slipping ... cuz I fondly recall all of this too clearly, and with more than a few happy chuckles and taste bud awakenings: -- Generous segments of hot Swiss cheese oozing within egg custard set warmly into a fresh & flaky, crisp pie-crust-shell ... Oh, yeah! -- Macho bacon chunks holding tangy barriers between melted, creamy goo, and souffle-ed to a steaming, lightly bouncy, moist egg fluff ... Uh huh. -- Soft hints of nutmeg nearly overcome with glee by freshly sauteed, almost crunchy, slithery garlic and green onion pieces ... Ho, ho, ho. Tim Taylor lives! (And is dated with fond memory, in the kitchen, by the oven, within the ambiance of this review of a culinary cozy, thank you Lord!) Ahem. Excuse the slips through drooling saliva. Returning to the above quote from M by M... Miss Marple is another story (beyond and before Erma). Rather than nicely seating an age-flavor as Bombeck has done so well, Christie's Marple is ageless and forever famous ... ... except to a young editor at Penguin who rejected a ms because the protagonist, at 55-years, was too old to appeal to mystery readers. Huh? Penguin, I love your Tuxedo, and that ms deserves a second chance to dance!! Pretend I didn't slither in that last paragraph. If you want to read something timeless and ageless, though, something which exemplifies the best of many crossover worlds bleeding into each other in a classic mystery scene taking the suburban housewife into her own where she'll never be underestimated or overwhelmed again ... If you want to be impressed with how stark-salient-simplicity, and routine-real-life might be successfully lived and easily prioritized, on an easy fly, within the-gracious-hostess-role played with panache ... If you want all that and more, read (and reread) the Last Chapter of A QUICHE BEFORE DYING. I'll quote a few passages and comment upon the depth and complexity which can be easily missed do to the smooth ride of the jazzy rhythm and snappy-blues of Jill Churchill's voice. Not to worry, though, I won't give away even a hint of any part of the plot or denouement which needs to be kept under raps for the mystery threads to remain intact, to be unraveled only as you read this book from page one to the end, which I recommend "to no end." Chapter 21 begins: >> "Mom!" Katie called from the living room. Mike and Todd are being repulsive again! They're such dweebs!" <br /> <br />>> "It's their nature," Jane called back from the dining room table. (Note that Jane doesn't leap up, zip upstairs and micro-manage, like those fictional super Mom's we know too well, in response to this whine & conflict;

This "Quiche" is one to savor!

Jill Churchill has written another wonderful Jane Jeffry mystery. When Jane's mother comes to visit, Jane agrees to attend a writing class with her. Little does she know one of the would-be authors has murderous intentions against another classmate. When the police don't seem to be working fast enough for Jane's taste, Jane and her friend Shelley decide to take the investigation into their own hands. This case is a tough one to crack because everyone in the class hated the victim. As if that weren't enough, everyone seems to have secrets of their own.I couldn't get to the part where the killer was revealed fast enough -- I was completely stumped! Yet when it all came out, it made so much sense -- the clues were all laid out in the book. This book was a quick, delightful read with immensely likable characters. I highly recommend it to all readers, mystery buffs or not.

Great Book

I picked this bok up at a sale one day. I read it and loved it so much. it's very exciting and interesting. it has a lot of events that suprise and amuse you. it makes you smile and laugh out loud. You should buy it. Wonderful.

A Quice Before Dying Keeps You Guessing

A Quice before dying is a very good, entertaining, and funny book, from Jill Churchill. Through Jane Jeffry and best friend Shelly's ponderings, the reader can see why each person is a possible suspect and their motives. Jill Churchill keeps you guessing to the very end. I like the fact how in every Jill Churchill book, she has Jane Jeffry dating a detective, and how it is kind of funny how Jane always figures it out before the police do. When, in A Quiche Before Dying, Jill Churchill gives clues, they are very broad. I thought it was someone else completely until the end of the book. A great read.