Ladies of Class (Book) - 3/15/2008 2:07:12 PM
REVIEW: LADIES OF CLASS
The murder of a group of elderly women in an English village sets Detective Chief Inspector Richard Hayward off on a trail that takes him from rural England to California and Paris and back again. The murdered women were all young ladies at the outbreak of the war in 1939, attending a finishing school in France. And they brought back to England with them, a secret that would ultimately bring about their untimely death.
It is up to Richard Hayward, who has his own marital predicament to deal with, to decipher the riddle, a riddle that, when solved, is surprisingly close to home.
Written by Marjorie Grace Patricia Bridget Owen and now published by her daughter-in-law Dee Owen, LADIES OF CLASS is crafted in the classic English village mystery style and beautifully crafted it is. Character delineation is spot on and the mystery weaves around the various suspects, keeping the reader entertained and guessing. Marjorie Grace Patricia Bridget Owen certainly knew her detectives and was well schooled in the art of detective fiction.
A little gem that is waiting to be discovered and will no doubt find an enthusiastic and appreciative audience, thanks to Dee Owen who rescued it from obscurity and revealed the talents of this witty and skilful author
Highly recommended.
Brian Kavanagh.
Author of Belinda Lawrence Mystery Series.
http://beekayvic.tripod.com
Happily Ever After (Short Story) - 4/9/2016 8:51:36 AM
I, too, follow the story quite interesting. Especially the pitfalls that Laura fell into from early life. But experience helps everyone find true love if they let it happen and do not let bad experiences prevent them from moving forward.
And, two things immediately struck me. First, the idea of marrying a gay man who uses the marriage as a way to hide his situation. Until recently, women had no recourse. I'm so glad that's changing. Also, a woman who develops no skills, and I'm not talking about "woman" skills, can face a hard life if she loses the source of her income. I've seen it happen many times. And often, it's the husband that caused the problem by not allowing his wife to learn the ins and outs of life. Thankfully, that attitude is changing as well.
I have tried to help people with the formatting problem. I had great difficulty reading this rather long story. It may be the way you're pasting into your browser… Try pasting special or to match style. The problem may be Microsoft Word later additions. Try dumbing down all the formatting by saving your story in rich text format (.rtf) or simple text (.txt) before copying and pasting it into the AD editor.
The problem may be also that you have a guest membership where you don't really have any formatting options in the editor.
Ron
Happily Ever After (Short Story) - 4/8/2016 6:15:07 AM
I too enjoyed this story, however I did find it somewhat difficult in that there were no breaks in paragraph structure..thats just me though
Happily Ever After (Short Story) - 4/8/2016 1:10:11 AM
I enjoyed your well-written story told from Laura's point of view with a brief interjection of Carl's innermost thoughts. Since I agree wholeheartedly with the adage, "Life begins after forty," - I found it a bit disconcerting how Laura seemed like she was in her seventies by the details you painted. Just my take...
