They Did It with Love

The cover of this book is what actually first caught my eye while I was looking for something to read but the title actually put me off at first because I didn't want to read a love story. I'm not a fan of most love stories and I didn't want to read anything girly. I'm more of a mystery, horror, and adventure type of girl than a chick lit type of girl. But like I said, the cover caught my attention, so I turned it over and read the back and I was hooked. I had to read it. I started it Wednesday before I went to tutoring, read a bit, and had to put it aside. Yesterday I read the bulk of it and had to fight to put it down. And then I finished the last of it today. I even told Pat yesterday that this is one book that I absolutely must get show more for my collection because I can read it over and over again.

This actually reminded me a bit of what I watched from the first season of Desperate Housewives. They're a bunch of rich housewives with husbands who have high-power jobs in the city and they're bored and self-centered. They're all like a train wreck that you can't look away from because they're so superficial and silly. Sophie and Susan are the only two women I found myself able to tolerate in the whole thing. I wanted to slap Priscilla, I thought Ashley was over the top (she was mostly tolerable though), and Julia was just a holier-than-thou snob.

The book did bring up some interesting ideas about marriage and people though. Priscilla, for as annoying a character as she was, really stands for a lot of marriages. She's the typical woman who thinks she could have done better than they loyal, stable, good man she married. She's symbolic of exactly what happens when you not only underestimate your partner's intelligence but take everything that makes a man good and turn it into something boring that you take for granted. And yes, her husband Gordon did come off pretty mealey-mouthed and subservient in the book but he didn't deserve the way she treated him, brushed him off, or the cruel way that she thought about him. Of course, a lot of good guys get that brush off by their wives.

Dean, Sophie's husband, I didn't like almost from the start. He's good-looking and charming and he knows it, and he doesn't care if it makes his wife uncomfortable to see other women throwing themselves at him in front of her. Irrational jealousy is one thing and I think women should be flattered when their husbands/boyfriends are checked out by other women and not fly off the handle. But it's also the husband's/boyfriend's job to make sure the wife realizes that she's the only one he really wants, especially when she's feeling insecure, and he doesn't do that. He pretends to be oblivious to how it makes her feel because he likes the attention so I immediately labelled him an asshole. show less

“Agatha Christie meets Desperate Housewives with a large dash of Presumed Innocent in Morgenroth’s smashing, Stepfordesque mystery. At the heart of the novel is Manhattan bookshop clerk Sofie, whose father’s death has left her wealthy and in need of a change of pace. Her husband suggests moving to posh Greenwich, Conn., where she falls in with a group of bored, bitchy and smart housewives who gossip, drink too much and occasionally cat around with each other’s husbands. When young trophy wife Julia is found swinging from a tree in her front yard, the obvious conclusion is suicide—but both cops and neighbors suspect murder, and mystery addict Sofie sets out to do a little sleuthing.

Kate Morgenroth has created a fast-paced suburban mystery with a full cast of characters whose lives intertwine in some unexpected ways. The somber beginning of the book belies the zippy tale that unfolds through multiple perspectives as the short chapters jump from character to character. The story takes place in a posh Greenwich, Connecticut neighborhood and the diverse members of the cliquish and insular mystery book group lead by controlling and hyper Priscilla. Included in the group -- and that is inclusion by invitation only -- are laid-back Susan, discontented Julia, bombshell Ashley and newbie Sofie. As they plow their way through classic Christie novels we learn all about their marriage troubles, personal doubts, as well as show more minor intrigues within the neighborhood. When they are suddenly confronted with their own mysterious suicide – possible murder – they all become (very Christie-like) suspects and amateur investigators on their own. Add to the mix the crossword puzzle-loving DA detective Ackerman and things really begin to heat up. When you find out who-done-it you’ll be eager to discuss the dénouement with other mystery lovers. show less

This is a clever mystery that kept me guessing til the end. It pokes fun at pretentious book clubs and rich suburban lifestyles, while interesting you in the characters and what happens to them all. Recommended.

This is like a Desperate Housewives murder mystery. I wanted to like the premise -- the members of a mystery novel book club need to solve the murder when one of them is found hanging from a tree in her front yard -- but it was challenging when the characters were both unlikeable and hard to believe. There were a few editorial errors that had me clawing my eyes out as well, which added distraction.

I was very disappointed. Despite good reviews, it read like a poorly written soap opera. The romantic entanglements were too prominent and predictable and the characters were caricatures of Greenwich residents. The mystery had twists and turns and the solution revealed that beneath the most benign appearances, evil may lurk. In the end, it didn't resonate in either mystery or light romance

What a great book! Combines book clubs, life in the suburbs, murder....great combination. My students probably won't like this book; but the faculty members will!