Book Review: Mood Swings to Murder

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Mood Swings to Murder     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Jane Isenberg
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Senior Sleuths   Ethnic   Amateur Sleuth   Woman Main Character
Series: Bel Barrett # 2
Avon, Dec 2000, $5.99, 246 pp.

Bel Barrett is not your typical menopausal Jewish resident of Hoboken, New Jersey. Her daughter attends an Oregon college, sends an E-mail informing Bel that she is pregnant and plans to marry her significant other. Bel’s son, recently returned from Israel after a failed romance, is a couch potato living on Fruit Loops and needing surgery to remove the TV remote form his hand. Bel’s saving grace is her beloved Sol, whose only flaw in her mind is his reluctance for her to investigate homicides.

While taking a stroll together, Sol and Bel find the body of a young Frank Sinatra look-alike. The deceased is Louie Palumbo, a Sinatra impersonator, who happened to be dating one of Bel’s students. The pupil is a suspect, but Bel believes she is innocent. Bel decides to prove it by searching for the real killer, not yet knowing the danger she places herself in by a person relishing anonymity.

MOOD SWINGS TO MURDER demystifies menopause as the charming lead character does everything she did during pre-menopause. Much of Bel’s tsuras come from her children (sound familiar) and not her change of life. The mystery is fined tuned by building on incident after incident until Bel is in danger from a killer whose identity she keeps stepping close to uncovering. The secondary characters especially those seen through e-mail only, provide a deft touch to the plot as well as insight into Bel’s “mood swings”. Fans of ethnic amateur sleuth tales will want Jane Isenberg to provide more stories starring Bel and her brood.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner