Milwaukee Winters Can Be Murder

Beth Hartley #1

by Kathleen Anne Barrett

The sequel, Milwaukee Summers Can Be Deadly, is also available from AVALON.

Genres: Mystery

183 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 1996

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

When her secretary's brother is found dead, the police think it's an obvious suicide. But Janet knows better, and begs her boss, Beth Hartley, to find out what really happened. There are a few loose ends in this--it seems to be a first mystery--but Beth makes an amusing narrator and a finally successful sleuth.

[Nancy Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Ten above. Downright balmy." Yep; that is a very apt description of winters in Milwaukee. I thought the writing was rather undeveloped and the plot was kind of weak and predictable, but I'm from Milwaukee so I connected to the story through all the locations. For that reason alone I'll probably read the next in the series.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of the reason I enjoyed this book was the familiar setting in Milwaukee. This made it easy to visualize while reading. Also, the author gives excessive detail about people's appearance, room decor, etc. The "fun size" of the book (5X7) suits the short novel (184pages).

[Justin Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very strange book that exists.
The writing style was off-putting for me. It was written in a conversational way, where the POV character often asks you questions about her thoughts (like, "But, hey, wouldn't you do the same?") and ends chapters with awkward foreshadowings along the lines of "But, boy am I glad I interviewed that person because it ended up telling me a lot!"
The mystery was pretty easy to figure out, both the "why" and the "who." However, I admit that the copious Milwaukee and Wisco references were kind of fun to read. (Green Bay gets a shout out! Well, the casino does, anyway.) Although, Barrett has a habit of explaining EVERY road that characters take to arrive places.
Also, it was entertaining to return to a time when average people legitimately didn't understand how computers worked and phones weren't at one's immediate use.
The connection to Christmas was very thin here. It was much more a "winter" mystery with legendary large Wisco snowfalls playing a role in the story.
All in all, a strange, not particularly good, light mystery.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty uneven, could use an editor, but Sue-Grafton-esque. I really liked it!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[NancyInWI · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember finding these Milwaukee mystery books in our library and picking two of them up to read over vacation because I grew up in Milwaukee...but they weren't very good.

[Nancy Rogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. First of a series that is pretty old. Interesting to read a book where people don't understand computers and have no cell phones. I'll read the next one.

[Theresa Lange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good