A Quiche Before Dying
A Quiche Before Dying by Jill Churchill 1993 Avon Books Cozy mystery
This is a Jane Jeffry Mystery series and like a lot of women, I identified with Jane easily. She has three teenagers and has been a widow for nearly two years. He was killed in a car accident while leaving Jane to join his mistress. I haven’t read the first book, but it made me wonder if Jane had been a suspect in his death.
Her two sons are away, Mike looking at colleges, and Todd visiting his paternal grandmother. That leaves Jane with her daughter, Katie, and mother, Cecily, who bond over the length of the book. Jane has solved crimes before with her best friend and neighbor Shelley.
Jane, Shelley, and Cecily are participating in a week-long class about writing a memoir. One of the classmates, Agnes, has already completed an entire book and thinks she should teach the class instead of Missy, a published romance novelist. Other classmates are introduced by Agnes screaming at them. Humor is introduced in tolerating Agnes.
She is hated by everyone but invites them to her home the following night. Everyone brings a dish to share, but only Agnes dies. Her maid nearly dies when she eats leftovers from Agnes’ plate. The maid had to eat half-eaten food? That was repulsive and sad. The woman worked 40 years for Agnes.
Detective Mel VanDyne reappears into Jane’s life and a timid romance begins between them.
As Jane and Shelley visit the other classmates, they hope to uncover clues about the crime. Instead we learn about interesting back stories that help to flesh out each suspect/character. This is a good technique for helping the reader dig deeper into the characters. Especially when Jane finds out things that she didn’t want to know and have nothing to do with the murder.
Jane discovers an extra copy of Agnes’ manuscript and asks the other classmates if they have their copies. She then finds a bamboo bird cage on her patio table. The final clue comes in the form of flowers delivered to her doorstep in a vase. Mel tells her they aren’t from her.
Churchill also gives us a creepy encounter at the store between Jane and a man who wants to ask her out. It’s every woman’s worst nightmare about unwanted dating.
Jane, who is a budding gardener, begins to put the clues together and calls Mel to put him on the right track to finding the killer.
Churchill can take the ordinary life of the suburbs and make it interesting. Jane goes to the PTA, Council meetings, and is raising three kids, but she has time for adventure and romance. It’s every middle-aged woman’s dream, and Churchill delivers with humor and sympathy.
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