Jill Churchill Mystery Novels

Jill Churchill Books

In the Still of the Night : A Grace and Favor Mystery by Jill Churchill

Lily Brewster and her brother Robert have all the appearances of being filthy rich, even though the family fortune went out the window with the crash of 1929. But thanks to great-uncle Horatio, who left them Grace and Favor Cottage, a huge mansion on the Hudson not far from Franklin Roosevelt's Hyde Park, the Brewsters live in the style to which they had become accustomed--with a few troublesome limitations.

To make sure Lily and Robert didn't go back to being society bums, crafty old Horatio attached some strings to his bequest--and a penny-pinching attorney to manage the funds. Now the poor Brewsters have to actually work for money to survive, and Lily comes up with a brilliant scheme. They can turn a profit while they hobnob with their society friends, luring them to Grace and Favor for a paying weekend with the promise of big-name celebrities as guests.

If Sinclair Lewis hadn't been working on a new book, he might have joined the party; if Amelia Earhart hadn't been busy planning her cross-Atlantic flight, history might not have its own unsolved mystery. And if the Brewsters' celebrity/society bash hadn't been short on luminaries and long on snide barbs and open hostility among the guests, the glittering, glamorous affair might not have turned into a whodunit with one guest dead, one missing, and Lily and Robert chasing a murderer who is ready to strike again.

A Knife to Remember by Jill Churchill

The popular mystery series continues as single mom Jane Jeffry allows a film crew to use her backyard as a location, and soon finds herself on the track of the killer of a blackmailing prop man.

From Here to Paternity : A Jane Jeffry Mystery by Jill Churchill

Vacationing at a Colorado ski resort with a couple of friends and an assortment of offspring, suburban sleuth Jane Jeffry is horrified when she careens into a snowman that hides a dead body inside of it.

A Farewell to Yarns by Jill Churchill

Life is hectic enough for suburban single mom Jane Jeffrey this Christmas season--what with her having to survive cutthroat church bazaar politics and finish knitting the afghan from Hell at the same time. The last thing the harried homemaker needs is an unwelcome visit from old acquaintance Phyllis Wagner and her ill-mannered brat of a teenage son. And the Wagner picture becomes even more complicated when a dead body is woven into the design.
Solving a murder, however, is a lot more interesting than knitting, so Janes determined to sew the whole thing up. But with a plethora of suspects and the appearance of a second corpse, this deadly tapestry is getting quite complex indeed. And Jane has to be very careful not to get strangled herself by the twisted threads shes attempting to unravel.

War and Peas : A Jane Jeffry Mystery by Jill Churchill

Amazon.com
If the sub-category of mysteries called "Cozies" are your passion, then you probably know all about Churchill and her series of paperbacks about a cat-loving Chicago housewife and amateur detective named Jane Jeffrey. (The last one was called -- ready? -- The Silence of the Hams.) Now Jeffrey is making her hardcover debut, in a story full of the same kind of homey, light-hearted stuff. The head of the Snellen Museum, founded by pea king Auguste Snellen, has been shot to death during a Civil War battle reenactment at the annual pea festival. Jane -- single mother of three troublesome teenagers -- helps her policeman boyfriend solve the case in typically clever style.

Groom With a View : A Jane Jeffry Mystery by Jill Churchill

Jane Jeffry thinks that a remote, rundown monastery-turned-hunt club is an odd place to hold a wedding. But the doubting suburban single mom is being paid to plan the fabulous event, not to say "I do." With overnight guests already arriving, Jane and best friend Shelley must rush to transform the musty, moosehead-lined halls into a matrimonial wonderland, under the scrutiny of the mousy bride-to-be's rich, most demanding daddy.

Then the lights go out, thanks to a violent, unexpected storm. As guests and "help" alike huddle in their flower-bedecked monks' cells, one almost-participant takes a suspicious slippery tumble to a very sudden death. But the marriage show must go on--despite Jane's nagging near certainty that the victim was ceremoniously "helped" down the stairs. And Jane's going to have to come up with a murderer and a motive, even as the first strains of bridal march begin--or else this fantasy wedding could turn into a real killer of an occasion.

Silence of the Hams by Jill Churchill

When a pompous attorney dies in a bizarre accident, most people are secretly relieved until the victim's most obnoxious employee comes to a similar end, placing Jane Jeffrey in the middle of a difficult case.

Grime and Punishment by Jill Churchill

Amazon.com
Ramona wasn't much of a cleaning woman--some say she wouldn't know a dust bunny from a Doberman--but that's no reason to bump the old girl off, is it? Someone must think so: poor Ramona is found strangled to death with a vacuum chord. Jane Jeffry--mother of three, chairperson of more committees than you can shake a stick at, and part-time sleuth--sets out to find the killer and tie up the loose ends in this irresistible mystery. Grime and Punishment, winner of both Agatha and Macavity Awards for best first mystery book and nominated for an Anthony Award for the same honor, is the first in a series of seven books featuring Jane Jeffry.

The Merchant of Menace : A Jane Jeffry Mystery by Jill Churchill

Amazon.com
Quintessential mom in tennis shoes Jane Jeffrey is once again thrust into a murder investigation, but this time the murderer is very close to home indeed. In The Merchant of Menace, the 10th of the series by Jill Churchill, Jane finds herself in the midst of the Christmas rush and hosting two celebrations back-to-back: neighborhood caroling party one evening and a cookie exchange the following day. The two gatherings are meant to bring the community together, but when a TV reporter is found dead during the singing, it becomes obvious that at least one of the neighbors is harboring something besides goodwill towards men. As Jane and her coconspirator Shelly explore just who might have reason to shove someone off a roof, their sleepy suburb (Chicago is the ostensible nearby city, but the setting could be anywhere there is snow in December) suddenly steams with secrets.
Churchill has done well with this cozy series in which each title is a play on words of a more illustrious piece of literature. The Merchant of Menace fits into the mold: a witty and gentle dose of murder and mayhem coupled with a wry appreciation for the terrors of suburban parenting (teaching teenagers to drive, helping with the homework, meeting the prospective in-laws) and middle-aged romance. The travails of Shylock are perhaps too oppressive for most Christmas readers, but The Merchant of Menace is certainly suitable for passing around with the Christmas cookies and holiday punch.

The Class Menagerie by Jill Churchill

Despite a full schedule, frazzled suburban single mom Jane Jeffry has agreed to lend a hand during a two-day gathering of her friend Shelley's former high school girl's club. So while the reunited ladies are dishing dirt, Jane is sweeping it up -- and she inadvertently becomes privy to all sorts of interesting postgraduate gossip and long-smoldering resentments. But then a corpse turns up among the one-time student body, the unfortunate victim of some rather nasty after-school activities. And unless Jane gets to the bottom of a sordid senior-year scandal, more alumnae are sure to die at the hands of a calculating classmate who's majoring in murder.

Anything Goes : A Grace and Favor Mystery by Jill Churchill

They Have Inherited a Lovely Upstate Mansion. . .
The crash of 1929 has ended the party for high-living New Yorkers Lily Brewster and her brother Robert and takes them from the upper echelons of the idle rich and deposits them to the lowly depths of the disillusioned poor. However, rescue arrives in the form of their recently deceased great-uncle Horation who bequeaths to them Grace and Favor "Cottage" which is really a great sprawling mansion. And there's a fortune to go with it, but only if they reside there for ten years.

And an Inconvenient Corpse
With no other alternative, the spirited Manhattanites move to a quiet and quaint Hudson River community and try to fit in. But they soon find out that great-uncle Horatio didn't die peacefully. He was murdered while on an elaborate sailing party on the Hudson River aboard his yacht-and Lily and Robert are suspects. But when another corpse appears in the kitchen of the mansion, the siblings are determined to clear themselves. Without a clue how to begin, Lily and Robert start snooping, unaware that their savvy sleuthing could make them the killer's next targets.

Someone to Watch over Me : A Grace & Favor Mystery by Jill Churchill

Fear of Frying : A Jane Jeffry Mystery by Jill Churchill

Amazon.com
In Fear of Frying neighbors Jane Jeffry and Shelly Nowack set off for some relaxation in the Wisconsin woods while scouting summer camp sites for suburban high-school students. Jane isn't exactly thrilled at the idea: any form of camping is an anathema at the best of times, and in damp midwinter it seems especially grim. Matters do not improve when this pair of amateur detectives discover one of their fellow campers smacked with a frying pan--seemingly with fatal consequences. But they suspect their own eyes (and everyone else suspects their sanity) when the body disappears along with any evidence of foul play. To make matters worse (or better) a surprisingly healthy victim resurfaces. With a mix of resentment at not being believed and amazement at the turn of events, the would-be campers are determined to discover what is really going on at their apparently secure haven in the wilderness.
Jill Churchill is a pen name for historical novelist Janice Young Brooks. Fear of Frying is the ninth in her Jane Jeffry series; the first, Grime and Punishment, won both the Agatha Award and the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel. Fear of Frying is one of the stronger in the series--the fringe characters strike just the right note between parody and believability--and Jane and Shelly investigate matters more convincingly by relying on their memories and knowledge rather than by asking brash questions. The brightness and charm remain consistent: these suburban moms love children and dogs, a good gossip and decadent food--although not necessarily in that order. A lighthearted installment in a pleasantly lighthearted series.

A Quiche Before Dying by Jill Churchill

With her kids away for the summer, Jane Jeffry enrolls in a writing course at the community center and gets an opportunity to practice her sleuthing skills when a classmate keels over dead during a class party.

Mulch Ado About Nothing : A Jane Jeffry Mystery by Jill Churchill

Suburban mom Jane Jeffry and her equally green-thumbless best friend Shelley Nowack could kill plastic plants. But their scheme to improve themselves vegetatively dies on the vine when the celebrated botanist slated to teach a class at the local Community Center is mysteriously beaten into a coma -- and her replacement turns out to be Dr. Stewart Eastman, an arrogant, self-promoting boor. Did Dr. Eastman or a fellow classmate assault their original instructor? And who later plants a corpse in Eastman's compost heap? There's certainly an abundant crop of suspects. And it's up to Jane to weed out a killer.

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