Book Review: Heavenly Detour

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Heavenly Detour     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Joanne Meyer
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Fiction   Horror
Kensington, Feb 2003, $23.00, 272 pp.

Anne Dowd makes a decent living working for Royal Roosts, a real estate firm dealing in uptown Manhattan rentals and sub leases. The whole office is invited to spend July 4th at the owner Agnes Spurgeon’s country estate in Sand Point, Long Island. When Annie arrives she meets Michael Rheims, a gorgeous Brit, who puts the moves on her. Anne isn’t unhappy with this development but before she gets to enjoy it for very long, she winds up floating dead in the swimming pool.

Annie’s ghost lingers on Earth watching the crime scene unfold, observing her family grieve for her, and seeing her ex-husband come home to help the police find out who murdered her. She is able to communicate with only one person, a female detective assigned to her case who takes Annie’s presence as an additional aid in solving the case. Everyone, including Annie, comes to the conclusion that the person who killed her is someone she knew and probably trusted.

This is not a dark, foreboding or depressing mystery but a comedic who-done-it along the lines of TOPPER. The heroine has a tongue in check attitude about her own death so the reader doesn’t feel morbid because an innocent person was killed. Joanne Meyer’s debut novel is exceedingly well written with brilliant characterizations.

Harriet Klausner

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