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A Farewell to Yarns (Jane Jeffry Mysteries, No. 2)
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Manufacturer: Avon
Author: Jill Churchill
Publisher: Avon
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $6.99
You Save: $ ( % )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Avon
Author: Jill Churchill
Publisher: Avon
Average Customer Rating:
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A Farewell to Yarns (Jane Jeffry Mysteries, No. 2) Description
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780380763993
ISBN: 0380763990
Label: Avon
Manufacturer: Avon
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 256
Publication Date: 1991-12-01
Publisher: Avon
Product Release Date: 1991-12-01
Studio: Avon
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780380763993
ISBN: 0380763990
Label: Avon
Manufacturer: Avon
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 256
Publication Date: 1991-12-01
Publisher: Avon
Product Release Date: 1991-12-01
Studio: Avon
Editorial Review of A Farewell to Yarns (Jane Jeffry Mysteries, No. 2)
Life is hectic enough for suburban single mom Jane Jeffrey this Christmas season--what with her having to survive cutthroat church bazaar politics and finish knitting the afghan from Hell at the same time. The last thing the harried homemaker needs is an unwelcome visit from old acquaintance Phyllis Wagner and her ill-mannered brat of a teenage son. And the Wagner picture becomes even more complicated when a dead body is woven into the design.
Solving a murder, however, is a lot more interesting than knitting, so Jane's determined to sew the whole thing up. But with a plethora of suspects and the appearance of a second corpse, this deadly tapestry is getting quite complex indeed. And Jane has to be very careful not to get strangled herself by the twisted threads shes attempting to unravel.
Customer Reviews of A Farewell to Yarns (Jane Jeffry Mysteries, No. 2)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Well Written and Plotted Cozy Mystery
Review: This will be the first Christmas since Jane Jeffry lost her husband in a car accident and she's determined to make it a good one for her three children, Mike, Katie, and Todd. Jane thinks she has everything under control (as much as anyone can during the holidays), even having time to crochet an afghan for an upcoming Christmas bazaar, but she is thrown for a loop when an old friend, Phyllis Wagner, tells Jane she is coming for a visit. Jane hasn't seen Phyllis in years and is wondering why Phyllis would want to spend Christmas with her instead of her rich and seemingly devoted husband. However, Jane gets an inkling of what is going on when Phyllis shows up with her long lost and extremely obnoxious son, Bobby. Phyllis settles in quickly, quickly buying a house in Jane's neighborhood, but is just as quickly murdered. There are plenty of suspects, including Bobby, Phyllis's husband Chet, and Chet's son John. A second murder narrows the list of suspects even further. Jane has been involved in murder investigations before and doesn't mind helping hunky detective Mel Van Dyne as he investigates this one.
"A Farewell to Yarns" is the delightful follow-up to Jill Churchill's first Jane Jeffry mystery Grime and Punishment (Jane Jeffrey Mystery Series #1). Jane continues to grow as a character - she can be strong willed yet find herself agreeing to open her house to someone she hasn't seen in years. Jane's friend Shelly Nowack also continues to grow as a character - she is a voice of reason when Jane isn't strong enough to do it herself and her helping Jane's kids plan a Christmas surprise for her was a great touch in the book. One of the things Churchill does best in the series is when she describes the world of the suburban housewife - most of the women in the series are stay at home mothers and I love the glimpses into their lives as Jane juggles carpooling for three children, volunteer activities, Christmas decorating, shopping, and crocheting an afghan for the bazaar. Mike's Christmas concert is a good example of how the small details make the book better. I also loved the details about the bazaar, especially when to came to pricing the items for sale. The minor characters are all well done especially Chet, Fiona and Albert Howard, Jane's "Uncle" Jim, and the always-delightful Suzie Williams. The romance between Jane and Mel is a nice, slow one, understandable because of the recent death of her husband, and it takes a step forward by the end of this book. The mystery is well plotted and had several intriguing twists, especially at the end, that will surprise readers.
"A Farewell to Yarns" is a well-done cozy mystery.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Christmas is the Season in this Warm Cozy Mystery
Review: A warm home with 3 kids, pets, and Christmas in the air, Jane Jeffry makes a cozy home for her family. There are also warm friendships, a church bazaar, a school band concert . . . All the things that make for a cozy family life and a cozy book.
While Jane and her friends are putting together the church bazaar, the atmosphere gets even cozier. Jane's long-ago friend comes to visit for the holidays and helps with the bazaar.
Murders happen, and Jane is determined to find out who and why. She and Officer VanDyne are cooperative and friendly with each other. Once the mystery starts to unfold, you cannot put the book down. The interesting twist at the end will keep you reading until you are finished.
This is a wonderful, satisfying book. The atmosphere is superb and the mystery is clever. The whole book is entertaining. I am so glad I read it.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Very well done
Review: Quick, enjoyable and well written. I liked it, and I don't like a lot of mysteries I read.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Afghan Anomaly; Angels & Angst; Tis the Season
Review: What a way to pull a reader into a story, by using morning home sounds of an abandoned Today Show on a TV in the kitchen, an upstairs bedroom stereo blaring a Queens album, a burbling coffee maker, furnace blowing full blast ... As Churchill writes:
"... and from the basement there was the sound of some lonely item of clothing with a metal button thrashing around in the dryer."
The kitchen phone's ringing and ringing to the backdrop of Max the cat twitching deaf ears to his world, as he fishes for tidbits in the garbage disposal.
As the prose continues, perfectly posed details continue to surface like gifts unwrapped and abandoned under a holiday tree, in this Normal Rockwell presentation of a suburban sanctuary, a lifestyle nearly abandoned to extinction, a lifestyle which Jill Chruchill has deftly preserved in her Jane Jeffry cozy mysteries. The suburban housewife may have been stigmatized by a culture gone manic, marveling only at the more macho role-playing-pursuits for the female side of society's equation.
But, thanks to Jane Jeffry, the suburban housewife has regained her status, she's been regenerated with a smirk of satisfaction, at least for this reader.
And what is the time of the year for the metropolis rejected homemaker to be in full regalia with an ungodly number of holiday balls juggling in the air? You got it. Christmas is fast approaching. The season's just-like-clockwork overwhelm for those heroic Moms harrying homemaking routines carried on beyond the boundaries of skyscraper heaven has just surged to the hosannas for Jane, as an old school chum sets up housekeeping in Jane's home, tagging along a new found son who's packing into a chip on his shoulder more hostility than Goldy's Arch (from Diane Mott Davidson's series) could ever dream to drudge out of his derriere.
The plot weaves through Jane's ongoing projects, the main one setting up a charity bazzar for her church, her teenagers' ongoing noises of various symbolic and real expressions trailing behind their paths through hormonal oblivion, and the interjection of this old friend she hardly knows, her son from Hell, and I can't recall what all else.
With each Jane Jeffry novel I read, from the early offerings to the latest, I'm amazed at how easily her plots spread along under fingertips turning pages, how simply and lightly entertaining they seem to be, while subtle symbolism and thematic machinations seethe under the fast rhythmic flow of the surface. It's so EASY to miss the depth. But, make no mistake; it's there. You may want to look for it. Finding it might be more rewarding than the entertainment buzzing through the pages as they flip themselves so you can read with less effort.
These JJ novels seem to parallel the constant and pervasive underestimation of the suburban housewife, that role which can be played successfully only by the most complex personalities among us.
This book is ripe with the ambiance of holiday cheer mixed inexorably into the deepest wells of human angst and anomaly. Please forgive my repetition, but I'm still in conundrum about how this series can be called light, while I add my conclusion that it is. What a magician of a flickering glow and contrasting darkness Jill Churchill weaves into A FAREWELL TO YARNS, as she contemplates fame Vs abandonment and anonymity, as she pulls an amateur afghan into a last minute, real and symbolic success.
Cheers to you, Jill; my hat's off to your subtle skill,
Linda G. Shelnutt
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Curl up with Jane Jeffry
Review: The second mystery in Jill Churchill's series is equal to the first--fun, easy to read, and with just enough "hmmmm" to keep the reader guessing til the end. Churchill's dry sense of humor and good writing make for a relaxing and enjoyable mystery without the gore and violence.
Review Summary: Well Written and Plotted Cozy Mystery
Review: This will be the first Christmas since Jane Jeffry lost her husband in a car accident and she's determined to make it a good one for her three children, Mike, Katie, and Todd. Jane thinks she has everything under control (as much as anyone can during the holidays), even having time to crochet an afghan for an upcoming Christmas bazaar, but she is thrown for a loop when an old friend, Phyllis Wagner, tells Jane she is coming for a visit. Jane hasn't seen Phyllis in years and is wondering why Phyllis would want to spend Christmas with her instead of her rich and seemingly devoted husband. However, Jane gets an inkling of what is going on when Phyllis shows up with her long lost and extremely obnoxious son, Bobby. Phyllis settles in quickly, quickly buying a house in Jane's neighborhood, but is just as quickly murdered. There are plenty of suspects, including Bobby, Phyllis's husband Chet, and Chet's son John. A second murder narrows the list of suspects even further. Jane has been involved in murder investigations before and doesn't mind helping hunky detective Mel Van Dyne as he investigates this one.
"A Farewell to Yarns" is the delightful follow-up to Jill Churchill's first Jane Jeffry mystery Grime and Punishment (Jane Jeffrey Mystery Series #1). Jane continues to grow as a character - she can be strong willed yet find herself agreeing to open her house to someone she hasn't seen in years. Jane's friend Shelly Nowack also continues to grow as a character - she is a voice of reason when Jane isn't strong enough to do it herself and her helping Jane's kids plan a Christmas surprise for her was a great touch in the book. One of the things Churchill does best in the series is when she describes the world of the suburban housewife - most of the women in the series are stay at home mothers and I love the glimpses into their lives as Jane juggles carpooling for three children, volunteer activities, Christmas decorating, shopping, and crocheting an afghan for the bazaar. Mike's Christmas concert is a good example of how the small details make the book better. I also loved the details about the bazaar, especially when to came to pricing the items for sale. The minor characters are all well done especially Chet, Fiona and Albert Howard, Jane's "Uncle" Jim, and the always-delightful Suzie Williams. The romance between Jane and Mel is a nice, slow one, understandable because of the recent death of her husband, and it takes a step forward by the end of this book. The mystery is well plotted and had several intriguing twists, especially at the end, that will surprise readers.
"A Farewell to Yarns" is a well-done cozy mystery.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Christmas is the Season in this Warm Cozy Mystery
Review: A warm home with 3 kids, pets, and Christmas in the air, Jane Jeffry makes a cozy home for her family. There are also warm friendships, a church bazaar, a school band concert . . . All the things that make for a cozy family life and a cozy book.
While Jane and her friends are putting together the church bazaar, the atmosphere gets even cozier. Jane's long-ago friend comes to visit for the holidays and helps with the bazaar.
Murders happen, and Jane is determined to find out who and why. She and Officer VanDyne are cooperative and friendly with each other. Once the mystery starts to unfold, you cannot put the book down. The interesting twist at the end will keep you reading until you are finished.
This is a wonderful, satisfying book. The atmosphere is superb and the mystery is clever. The whole book is entertaining. I am so glad I read it.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Very well done
Review: Quick, enjoyable and well written. I liked it, and I don't like a lot of mysteries I read.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Afghan Anomaly; Angels & Angst; Tis the Season
Review: What a way to pull a reader into a story, by using morning home sounds of an abandoned Today Show on a TV in the kitchen, an upstairs bedroom stereo blaring a Queens album, a burbling coffee maker, furnace blowing full blast ... As Churchill writes:
"... and from the basement there was the sound of some lonely item of clothing with a metal button thrashing around in the dryer."
The kitchen phone's ringing and ringing to the backdrop of Max the cat twitching deaf ears to his world, as he fishes for tidbits in the garbage disposal.
As the prose continues, perfectly posed details continue to surface like gifts unwrapped and abandoned under a holiday tree, in this Normal Rockwell presentation of a suburban sanctuary, a lifestyle nearly abandoned to extinction, a lifestyle which Jill Chruchill has deftly preserved in her Jane Jeffry cozy mysteries. The suburban housewife may have been stigmatized by a culture gone manic, marveling only at the more macho role-playing-pursuits for the female side of society's equation.
But, thanks to Jane Jeffry, the suburban housewife has regained her status, she's been regenerated with a smirk of satisfaction, at least for this reader.
And what is the time of the year for the metropolis rejected homemaker to be in full regalia with an ungodly number of holiday balls juggling in the air? You got it. Christmas is fast approaching. The season's just-like-clockwork overwhelm for those heroic Moms harrying homemaking routines carried on beyond the boundaries of skyscraper heaven has just surged to the hosannas for Jane, as an old school chum sets up housekeeping in Jane's home, tagging along a new found son who's packing into a chip on his shoulder more hostility than Goldy's Arch (from Diane Mott Davidson's series) could ever dream to drudge out of his derriere.
The plot weaves through Jane's ongoing projects, the main one setting up a charity bazzar for her church, her teenagers' ongoing noises of various symbolic and real expressions trailing behind their paths through hormonal oblivion, and the interjection of this old friend she hardly knows, her son from Hell, and I can't recall what all else.
With each Jane Jeffry novel I read, from the early offerings to the latest, I'm amazed at how easily her plots spread along under fingertips turning pages, how simply and lightly entertaining they seem to be, while subtle symbolism and thematic machinations seethe under the fast rhythmic flow of the surface. It's so EASY to miss the depth. But, make no mistake; it's there. You may want to look for it. Finding it might be more rewarding than the entertainment buzzing through the pages as they flip themselves so you can read with less effort.
These JJ novels seem to parallel the constant and pervasive underestimation of the suburban housewife, that role which can be played successfully only by the most complex personalities among us.
This book is ripe with the ambiance of holiday cheer mixed inexorably into the deepest wells of human angst and anomaly. Please forgive my repetition, but I'm still in conundrum about how this series can be called light, while I add my conclusion that it is. What a magician of a flickering glow and contrasting darkness Jill Churchill weaves into A FAREWELL TO YARNS, as she contemplates fame Vs abandonment and anonymity, as she pulls an amateur afghan into a last minute, real and symbolic success.
Cheers to you, Jill; my hat's off to your subtle skill,
Linda G. Shelnutt
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Curl up with Jane Jeffry
Review: The second mystery in Jill Churchill's series is equal to the first--fun, easy to read, and with just enough "hmmmm" to keep the reader guessing til the end. Churchill's dry sense of humor and good writing make for a relaxing and enjoyable mystery without the gore and violence.