Robber's Wine: A Jane Lawless Mystery

Jane Lawless #7

by Ellen Hart, Babe Hart

In another of her popular Jane Lawless mysteries, Robber's Wine, Ellen Hart weaves a delightful whodunit around a family secret hidden for years in the deep woods of Minnesota. The bonds that pull families together and apart become the very clues Jane and her sidekick Cordelia Thorn must sift through before they can get to the bottom of a revered family matriarch's murder.

Robber's Wine starts off slowly as Jane and Cordelia head to a much-needed summer vacation at Pokegama Lake, away from their hectic Minneapolis lives. On the way they decide to give old friend Anne Dumont a ride to her family home on the edge of Fosh Lake, where they stop to visit Anne's mother, Belle, another close friend. Upon arrival, however, they find that Belle has completely disappeared--the first intriguing step into a labyrinth of secrets that extends over three generations of the prominent Dumont clan.

Genres: Mystery, LGBT, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Lesbian, Audiobook, Queer

287 pages, Hardcover

First published July 26, 1996

About the author

Ellen Hart is the author of twenty-eight crime novels in two different series. She is a five-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, a three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Best Popular Fiction, a three-time winner of the Golden Crown Literary Award in several categories, a recipient of the Alice B Medal, and was made an official GLBT Literary Saint at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans in 2005. In 2010, Ellen received the GCLS Trailblazer Award for lifetime achievement in the field of lesbian literature. For the past fourteen years, Ellen has taught "An Introduction to Writing the Modern Mystery" through the The Loft Literary Center, the largest independent writing community in the nation. Ellen's latest Sophie Greenway mystery is No Reservations Required (Ballantine). Rest for the Wicked, the twentieth Jane Lawless mystery, will be released by St. Martin's/Minotaur in October 2012. Bella Books has recently revived the out-of-print books by publishing them in both trade paperback and E-book. Ellen lives in the Minneapolis area with her partner of over 35 years.

Reviews

[Heather Henkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

The messes Jane keeps getting in or finding herself investigating are great. I can't wait to read about what she is getting neck deep in every book and this was no exception to the well written intriguing stories previous in the series. Definitely worth reading.

[Barbara A. Mainhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Really enjoy getting to see the character development of Jane Lawless and her friend Cordelia. Great interplay between old friends.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hart is always a good writer and tells a good mystery story. Her characters always come off as realistic. I’m glad I am rekindling my association with this series I started when I was younger. I do find that the novels that steer away from Jane Lawless’ life as a restaurant owner and featuring her life and pets, etc are my least favorite. I don’t
Think she even mentioned in checked in on her restaurant or her dogs in this book. I know it’s weird, but it just seems like a complete disassociation from her normal life. Otherwise I love Hart’s writing style and this was an inventive murder.

[Yahli Rot · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually enjoy these books enough for 4 stars, but this one was... Less than usual. Not because of the writing or the plot or the characters. I just really think Jane should have respected the family enough to stay away, she's not law enforcement and I felt like sending Melody to prison should have been her last resort, and she shouldn't be investigating friends in the first place if they didn't ask her to do it.

[Sarah Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favourite (so far) of the series.

Happy moments for Jane in her relationship.

Cordelia is ridiculous.

Many moment of justified anger and incredulation.

One thread wasn't thoroughly tied up (to my mind), but otherwise very solid and a good sign of the series hitting a stride.

[Tink · Rating 3 out of 5]

7 down.

[Shan( Shans_Shelves) 💜 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jane and Cordelia as wonderful as ever.

[Bella]

a little slow but the world the series built is fun!

[Elyse · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really don’t like the main character and her best friend is even worse.

[Spuddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

#7 Jane Lawless mystery in which Jane and her friend Cordelia are heading north on vacation and agree to a slight detour to give a friend whose car is in the shop a ride to her mother's lake home near Grand Rapids to attend an 'important family meeting.' They arrive to find Belle (the mother) missing and the entire household in an uproar, as simply disappearing without notice is very unlike her. Of course she does turn up dead, and Jane and Cordelia forego the pleasure of a trip to the north shore of Lake Superior to stick around for the family and be nosy, which isn't a real comfortable thing since most of the suspects are family.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot, although I'm not really that crazy about the popping between points of view often of some rather extraneous characters...sometimes it feels like Jane fades into the background too much. But still a good entry in the series and I look forward to the next.

[Sonnet Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated, despite being only 20 years old. Springsteen! VCRs! Answering machines! Death and mystery that could have been avoided if someone just had a cell phone! Repeated references to how coming out is such a scandal it will ruin an entire family's life (ok that did bring back painful memories, though.) I lost it when the main character made a sarcastic comment about how next they'll be inventing TV phones so you can see someone far away! Imagine!

All that said, it's a great little cozy mystery. I love the queer protagonist, who is authentic and nicely written. I wanted to throw her best friend off a boat. The setting and other characters were nicely drawn. I thought the ending fell a little flat, but I was honestly surprised by the reveal. There were enough twists and turns to keep me reading and guessing.

Solid three stars, and a suggestion to treat it like historical fic :)

[Kathleen Hagen]

Robber’s Wine, by Ellen Hart, a-minus, Narrated by Aimee Jolson, Produced by audible inc., downloaded from audible.com.

Belle Dumont vanished from her home in the Minnesota woods only hours before she was to reveal startling news to her three grown children. The kids and Belle's lover deny any knowledge of this mysterious bombshell, but amateur sleuth Jane Lawless,
Belle's old friend, suspectsthat the whole family has closed in and is protecting each other’s family secrets. Belle’s body is found. Her death appears to be accidental, but after the reading of her will and the shocks revealed, another murder occurs. Jane and Cordelia must ferret out what is really going on, and their own lives are in danger. Very good.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a series I have come to enjoy with a main character lead that I really like. Although she sometimes has a bit too much angst and second-guessing for me, I love how her new girlfriend describes Jane. She is a pretty "straight" arrow. Good mystery that had me guessing and enough action to keep me reading. Now there is even a love interest that has great potential. Fun read and good to pick up between other books.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conclusion was something of a surprise and the "clue" to the perpetrator of at least one of the murders was fairly obscure, the most surprising thing about this book was that the underlying topic--homosexuality--was dealt with so frankly and compassionately in a book published 20 years ago.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

My new favorite mystery author. Loads of fun, and actually a little bit scary in parts. Love the characters.

[M. White · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written, clever mystery. I plan to read more by this author.