Silence of the Hams

Jane Jeffrey's oldest son is growing up. He is graduating from high school and working part time at a local deli to earn some money. Jane thinks the only thing she needs to worry about Mike is that he be careful while driving the truck she gave him as a graduation present. But when obnoxious attorney Robert Stonecipher is murdered at the opening party for the deli, she's not sure she wants Mike working there. But he insists he'll be okay and Jane relents. When there is a second murder, Jane can't help investigating the deaths even if her boyfriend, homicide detective Mel VanDyne, doesn't like it.

"Silence of the Hams" is yet another great cozy mystery by Jill Churchill. As always, what makes the Jane Jeffry series so enjoyable is not show more necessarily the mystery but the details about Jane's family life. Jane's kids are growing up as the series progresses and Mike especially has grown. With his father's death he considers himself the man of the house and Jane is learning to treat him as an adult. Some of the best scenes in the book involve Mike, either directly or indirectly. One of those scenes is when Jane buys the truck for Mike. Her friend, Shelley Nowack, is great at wearing down the salesman and it is a very funny part of the book (wish I could take her with me next time I buy a car!) Equally well done is Mike's graduation party which sounds like a lot of fun. Jane's other children, Katie and Todd, are also well written, Katie especially so as she is going through the growing pains that come with being a teenager. Churchill does an excellent job of capturing the little things that make up life in the suburbs. The mystery itself is okay. Parts of it were a bit unbelievable and it's pretty clear from the beginning who the murderer is. But it's still a fun mystery to read.

Cozy mystery fans will enjoy "Silence of the Hams". show less

Silence of the Hams is one of the very best Jane Jeffry mysteries. It has tons of stuff going on with Mike's graduation, multiple deaths and the resiting investigation. A shockingly unexpected killer was almost just an added bonus with so much interesting back story.

The graduating seniors are treated to a mandatory school-sponsored post-graduation party. The entire thing sounded fabulous, from the decorations in each themed area to the prizes each kid won. Jane's mother-in law and brother-in-law are in attendance for the graduation and any visit from the in-laws always results in funny rudeness. Two characters in Silence of the Hams are controlling types always on one crusade or another for the betterment of the community against the show more actual desires of said community. Plus, a dead body found under a pile of hams that leads to a lot of time we get to see Jane investigating with Shelley in tow. Silence of the Hams was a delightfully fun, quick and breezy book with a very surprising killer and motive. show less

A lightweight, fun read. The first of hers that I've read; I suspect regular readers will be familiar with recurring characters and perhaps get more out of the book than I did. The mystery is fairly interesting, but we don't see the crucial clues so it's hard to try to solve it. I'm not sure we're supposed to. The parenthood theme is cute, sometimes too much so. The humor is ok.