Wicked, Loving Murder

Patience McKenna #2

by Jane Haddam, Orania Papazoglou (Pseudonym)

Alida Brookfield, the magazine's owner-publisher, considered the financially exciting possibilities of her readership. There would always be people who couldn't write but wanted to be writers. There would always be people whose personal get-rich-quick fantasy was to produce the next sex-and-sin bestseller in their sleep. There would always be people who didn't know the score.
McKenna knew the score, harbored no illusions. When she went to work for Writing Enterprises, she fully expected to uncover skeletons in closets. What she didn't expect to find, especially on her first day, was a dead body.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Aka Orania Papazoglou

Jane Haddam (b. 1951) is an American author of mysteries. Born Orania Papazoglou, she worked as a college professor and magazine editor before publishing her Edgar Award–nominated first novel, Sweet, Savage Death, in 1984. This mystery introduced Patience McKenna, a sleuthing scribe who would go on to appear in four more books, including Wicked, Loving Murder (1985) and Rich, Radiant Slaughter (1988).

Not a Creature Was Stirring (1990) introduced Haddam’s best-known character, former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian. The series spans more than twenty novels, many of them holiday-themed, including Murder Superior (1993), Fountain of Death (1995), and Wanting Sheila Dead (2005). Haddam’s most recent novels are Blood in the Water (2012) and Hearts of Sand (2013). Wife of William L DeAndrea.

Reviews

[Ricki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was better than the first book in the series, but not as good or as well written ad the Gregor Demarkian series.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pay McKenna has a true crime book coming out, but she finds herself working for a writers' magazine that she--and the romance writers community--thoroughly dislikes. On her first day there, she finds the body of a man in the closet of her tiny office, the nephew of the editor in chief. But two other nephews also work there, and they're both disturbing in their own ways. When it turns out that the police's main suspect is another romance writer, Pay feels herself reluctantly being drawn into the investigation. The book suffers, I think, from the absence of the colorful cast of romance characters who enlivened book one of the series, but is still an enjoyable read.

[Nancy]

McKenna knew the score when she went to work for Writing magazine. There would always be people who couldn't write but wanted to be writers. There would always be people with get-rich-quick fantasies looking to produce the next sex-and-sin bestseller. She fully expected to uncover skeletons in closets. Instead, on her very first day, she found an entire body. Join McKenna, former romance novelist turned true-crime writer, as she once again turns reluctant sleuth in this mystery that presents a picture of one corner of the publishing world. (less)
GET A COPY


Didn't finish. Couldn't get interested.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this much better than the prequel. We've kept all the good bits: murder in the world of category romance writing, Patience McKenna and her friend Phoebe, and a murder that ends up being very high stakes for all involved. The things I complained about though are absent. The cast of suspects is colorful and all have a personality of their own, the mystery parts tie together more nicely and the resolution is more satisfying.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A midlist author finds herself dragooned into editing some articles for a fly by night publisher of magazines that encourage wannabe writers with advice, much of it bad.

Someone is murdered and stuffed into a wardrobe.

Something of a cozy for the people who live like someone in a Woody Allen movie.

[Brian Carney · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first (and probably last) book I'll read in this series. The characters are not interesting enogh to be this disagreeable; they're not terribly well-drawn, believable or sympathetic. The setting (Manhattan) is not very well drawn and the plot is weak.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane Haddam's Wicked, Loving Murder was not as strong as her first Sweet, Savage Love. The characters were not as interesting and the plot was pretty convoluted. I think I'm ready to head back to Haddam's Gregor Demarkian series.

[Dogsandbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable in an ironic 60's noir way. Almost a send up of the hard boiled detective genre. DPL e book via Freading

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF Clunky writing with no interesting characters

[Justsane · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fine little vacation read, but if you’re expecting a Gregor Demarkian level mystery, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

[Cat. · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, so this one was better than the first one, which means the author is improving. This time we follow Patience as she consults with a hack magazine for aspiring authors. Her first day there, one of the managers is found strangled in a wardrobe in her office. Soon, the owner of the company meets a similar fate.

Although she is in no way implicated, and doesn't even want to help the police figure out what's going on, she finds herself drawn in. The end result is typically dramatic and somewhat unexpected. It involves shady accounting practices, the explanation of which made my eyes roll back in my head. It all seems a little far-fetched for such a tiny, disorganized and dysfunctional group to accomplish.

Having read two of the books in the series to this point, I think I can safely delete Papazoglou's name from The List. She was only on it because of her other (later) series written under the pseudonym Jane Haddam. So I will jump to that series and be content that I at least tried these.

[Kyrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian books are one of my favorite series. I'm assuming she learned a lot about writing by writing the Patience McKenna series. They're not bad, they're just not Gregor level.

I don't think I understand the NYC mentality. Near as I can tell, this mystery was solved by smoking a ton of cigarettes, moving furniture and swearing a lot. And honestly, I didn't care about the victims or who killed them. There's something there - that made me keep reading, but, well, it's just not my cup of tea. Maybe if I understood New York better?

3/29/26 Reread right after reading the previous Patience McKenna, and so it was better. (Anything would be better after that one.) I followed the plot, mostly, and could keep the characters straight. Still, not one of my favorite series, but I'll try the third one and see if I like it as much more.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published in the 1980s but reads like a 60s mystery. Two murders by strangulation with typewriter ribbon and a heroine who lights up a cigarette at the slightest sign of stress. Fun read to go back in time - small book with a good storyline. This is the second book in the murder series featuring Patience McKenna, a romance writer and detective through no desire of her own.

[Susan Cantey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting characters

I enjoyed this more than a previous Haddam book. The protagonist, Patience McKenna didn't ramble as much in this story and the characters were a bit more believable. Still, the world of Patience McKenna is just plain strange.

[Pauline]

non de plume of Jane Haddam