About this title: Balaclava Agricultural College professor Peter Shandy has endured years of badgering by Jemima Ames, assistant librarian and chair of the college's annual fundraiser, to decorate his campus home for the fundraiser. He gives in, but escapes to sea on his boat. Shandy returns home to find Jemima dead on his living room floor. Police say it was an accident, but Shandy says its murder.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Avon Books (Mm)
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780380475308ISBN:0380475308
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Edition: first edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780385142458ISBN:0385142455
Description: A good reading copy only. Dust Jacket may have chips and close tears. A former library book with the usual identifiers in a protective glossy dust jacket covering. Spine has a forward slant-first edition, Hard Cover, Good / Good. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. PB: wear, creases, tape on spine, spine tilt, age discoloration/spots/stains, label removed from synopsis page, stamps. 222 read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Avon Books
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780380475308ISBN:0380475308
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Has some edge wear, light creases in cover. In great shape overall, all pages clean, intact and tight. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Avon Books, New York
Date Published: 1979
ISBN-13:9780380475308ISBN:0380475308
Description: 0380475308. Good. No dust jacket as issued. Edgewear, tanning, reading creases on spine, but tight, clean, respectable looking; Mass market paperback. Glued binding. 222 p. read more
"Reading this book right after reading Total Recall, I was struck by the fact that I had to comment in the review of that book on how capably Paretsky had kept her different characters straight--or, rather, so well defined that I as a reader had no difficulty in keeping them straight, even though there were considerably more than two dozen of them. In this book, however, I kept getting lost, absolutely confused as to who was who, when there were only a dozen of so characters. I am intrigued by this, as Ms. MacLeod is an accomplished writer, with at least 19 novels published. And that is not to imply in any way that Ms. MacLeod is lacking as a writer; I found this book charming and a fun read, making me chuckle and even laugh out loud in several places ... and I had to stay up late to finish it, which is always a mark of success. Still, it clearly is a lesser book. Paretsky's book dealt with several weighty issues as the backdrop for an extremely intricate plot, including Holocaust restitution and victimization, reparation for descendants of African slaves, business morality, social class, sexual mores, comparison of American and European ideals and customs, etc., giving the reader something to think about with respect to each of these, whereas MacLeod's book is a relatively simple and straightforward murder mystery and never really asks its reader to think, but just to enjoy. I do not think the dialog was as well polished and true as in Paretsky's book, and the ending was almost pure deux ex machine, but it was still a fun read, because I loved the love story between the two main characters. I am a sucker for good love stories.
The protagonist in Rest You Merry is one Dr. Peter Shandy, a tenured and balding 56-year old Professor at Balaclava College, a small agricultural school somewhere in the middle of the country; he is perfectly happy with his bachelor life, having made a small fortune by developing (along with his friend, Prof. Tim Ames) the Balaclava Buster, a rutabaga "so prolific and nutritious as cow feed that it alone generated most of the manure to produce the methane that ran the college power plant, not to mention a steam of royalties from see companies far and wide." He had a housekeeper to clean his house and the faculty dining room to keep him fed, and he was content with his lot ... with one glaring exception. Professor Shandy lived in a row of faculty housing on "The Crescent," and it had been the custom for many years for all the Crescent houses to display extensive Christmas decorations of such magnitude that the college made a good amount of money charging admission for the area populace to come see the spectacle, where they were hauled on sleds along the hillside by students dressed as elves, who also sold garish goodies in cute little stands along the way. Professor Shandy declined to participate, with his house being the one dark spot on the campus during the holiday season, while he went off to spend the holidays with some elderly relatives up north, which brought down upon his head the scorn and harassment of numerous faculty wives--particularly from the overbearing and obnoxious wife of his friend, Tim Ames. This year, he decided, it would be different. He arranged to go on a cruise--and also arranged to have hired workmen come in the day he left to erect on, in front of, and on top of his house, as well as in every window, the most garish collection of timer-controlled lighted and music-amplified Christmas decorations ever made, with his house locked up tight as a drum to prevent anyone from changing the lights and/or music. Unfortunately, the cruise ship broke down and he had to come home a few days after leaving ... only to discover the body of his friend's overbearing wife tucked behind his front-room sofa, apparently having fallen from a foot stool and cracker her head open while attempting to tone down one of the window decorations. How the campus authorities handle this situation in the middle of their money-making week is amusing, but Peter and Tim quickly come to the conclusion that this was no accident, but a case of deliberate murder, and Peter sets out to discover the murderer by interviewing his neighbors and other school authorities as to what they saw and did not see, as well as what they knew and did not know. Meanwhile, Tim Ames gets packed off to visit his daughter, who is about to have a baby in California, and the daughter sends back a distant relation to serve as Tim's housekeeper, since he is the epitome of the absent-minded professor, as well as almost completely deaf. This worthy relative turns out to be a rather pert librarian in her high forties, and Professor Shandy quickly discovers that bachelor life has lost it charms. Can he win her? Can he figure out who is killing off the faculty? And why? You'll have to read the book to find the answers, and it is a fun read."
"I picked this up purely for the rather cracktastic premise - mild-mannered professor goes slightly mad, outdoes himself on the uberannoying Christmas decorations, and then flees on a cruise, leaving his neighbors to deal with the aftereffects - a premise which, frankly, made my grinchy little heart shrink even further with pure joy. But utter disappointment set in when I discovered that this premise is established in the first two pages and resolved by the third (he felt guilty and came back).
It's possible there was good mystery in here, but I'm not suffering through 200 pages of 8pt font to find out."
"I thought this murder mystery was very well-written. I love the Peter Shandy character and I loved the reserve that MacLeod uses in writing about murder and all the gory details that go with that. You don't have to spell out everything!"
"I laughed out loud at the reaction of the professor (Peter Shandy, PHD) who bought the best, loudest and brightest Christmas decorations in a childish reaction to a neighbor's determination that he needed to decorate. It was a little clumsily written, but overall it is still my favorite among all the Shandy stories, and quite possibly among all of this author's books, both as Macleod and as Alisa Craig (where she did another series about a western writer and his wife).
I learned from this book not to give up or give in!"
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