Rating: 
Summary: Not Her Best
Review: A typical book in this series, with Jane and Shelley occupying their time by solving a mystery. However, while there were a lot of suspects, the ending came way too quickly, in about two paragraphs. And the confrontation only lasted about two sentences. Definitely not the best in this usually entertaining series.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read
Review: I enjoyed this book. Jane Jeffrey is a very likeable character. Although I enjoyed some of the other books in the series to this one, this is still a great read!
Rating: 
Summary: Awful Entry in an Uneven Series
Review: I have liked the character Jane Jeffrey and her pal and neighbor Shelley. And this is an easy read with the comfort of known characters growing older and progressing as individual women who still find a home and family to be a good center. The mystery here is not such a big suspenseful draw, just the involvement of the two friends in a possible money-making scheme, ring led by Shelley, with Jane along for the ride, and maybe the profit. The plot revolves around this would-be job and the unusual, almost all woman crew of renovators who are already on the payroll. But the vandalism of the site and the one murder take a gentle route to solution. This is no great puzzler, much less suspenseful horror. Rather domestic in its scope. Jane's interaction with her children and their maturation, her comfortable relationship with detective Mel, her entry into the real computer age and her developing novel, make for a fast and easy diversion. This is not the best of Churchill. In fact, mystery is just coincidental to the plot, it seems. But I do think it is good enough to divert the mind from the frustrations of the world for a while.
Rating:
Summary: Strange title, easy read
Review: I have liked the character Jane Jeffrey and her pal and neighbor Shelley. And this is an easy read with the comfort of known characters growing older and progressing as individual women who still find a home and family to be a good center. The mystery here is not such a big suspenseful draw, just the involvement of the two friends in a possible money-making scheme, ring led by Shelley, with Jane along for the ride, and maybe the profit. The plot revolves around this would-be job and the unusual, almost all woman crew of renovators who are already on the payroll. But the vandalism of the site and the one murder take a gentle route to solution. This is no great puzzler, much less suspenseful horror. Rather domestic in its scope. Jane's interaction with her children and their maturation, her comfortable relationship with detective Mel, her entry into the real computer age and her developing novel, make for a fast and easy diversion. This is not the best of Churchill. In fact, mystery is just coincidental to the plot, it seems. But I do think it is good enough to divert the mind from the frustrations of the world for a while.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as others in this series
Review: I have read all the books in this series and this was the weakest. I couldn't stay with it and skipped ahead to the end. Hopefully the next book will be better.
Rating:
Summary: Really more like 3-1/2 stars . . . I guess.
Review: I just finished "The House of Seven Mables" this morning - have read all but two in the "Jane Jeffry" series (and 1 so far in Churchill's "Grace and Favor" series), and I pretty much liked this one. I guess. See, I REALLY disliked the one prior to this, "Mulch Ado About Nothing" -- it was tedious, not very interesting, and I didn't even much like Jane in it, which was VERY disappointing. I didn't know what to expect with "Mabels," but overall it was a good read. With one kid in college, another in high school, and the third growing up fast, Jane Jeffry is starting to realize she must fill her days with something else once her kids are grown and gone. Her neighbor/best friend Shelley suggests they take on the decorating of an ugly, crumbling old Victorian house nearby that's being renovated by an old friend they haven't heard from in years, Bitsy Burnside. Bitsy and her supremely-feminist contractor Sandra (call her "Sandy") have commandeered an all-female crew for the renovation, and upon visiting the house Jane and Shelley begin to see that maybe Bitsy has gotten herself into more than she bargained for. In the first place, the house is a total wreck, barely worthy of saving. Secondly, Bitsy's contractor Sandy has pretty much alienated -- or caused the ire of -- nearly the entire crew, through her over-the-top feminist ramblings and lack of any real knowledge in the construction business. Even Jane and Shelley have second thoughts when they see their contracts, which are badly and unprofessionally written. Third and most important, a series of "accidents" have been plaguing the worksite from the beginning, and it's become apparent that someone is trying to sabotage the project. When Sandy the Contractor is suddenly found dead at the bottom of the basement stairs, Jane and Shelley are convinced it was no accident, and set out with Jane's policeman-boyfriend Mel to figure out the mystery. I have always enjoyed Churchill's writing, and in that sense "Mabels" is no exception. But the plotting is very sparse, with (for the first time in a Churchill book, for me) the identity of the killer VERY easy to spot early on (just look for the person with the only REAL possible motive that you've been made aware of while reading). I wasn't too bothered by the fact that the murder took almost a hundred pages to happen - and I don't agree with the reviewers that have said the feminism angle was stereotyped with lesbians, etc. --- But, I DO feel that Jill Churchill's "Jane Jeffry" series is struggling, really suffering, maybe from her concentration also on her "Grace and Favor" mysteries. Ever since those began, the "Jany Jeffry" series (to me) has been sub-standard, and the books now seem sort of rushed. The same thing has happened with Lydia Adamson and the "Alice Nestleton" series; a major shame for it to happen here, too. Oh, and one note to those people who have complained about the typographical errors in this book -- VERY true, and VERY irritating; the typos and missing words and bad grammer in this edition are really distracting, and destroy the mood of the book at times. But anyone who writes (as I do) will tell you, it is THE AUTHOR who copy-edits and approves the final galleys of his/her book, so the responsibility for the many, MANY errors in "Mabels" probably rests with Ms. Churchill. Again, another instance - maybe? - of Ms. Churchill's divided attention costing her the quality of her books. I still have hope and eagerly await the next one, though . . . maybe just not as eagerly as I once did.
Rating:
Summary: I have to agree....
Review: I just finished reading this book and I have to agree that it isn't up to the same standard as the previous Jane Jeffry books. I have noticed this in a lot of different series though. We, the readers, love a series so the author puts out a book a year--and we're thrilled! However, it might be wiser sometimes for the author to wait a little longer if her story isn't really "gelling" as well as it could. (I felt the same way about the last "Mrs. Pollifax" book by Dorothy Gilman.) I enjoyed this book mainly because I've enjoyed this series and like the characters. I have to admit I didn't like the "snobbish" comment about buffets having terrible food, but maybe where I live the buffets have better food. :-) The story line is always a little fantastical for Jane Jeffry and her friend, in my opinion, but this one didn't really make the mystery *interesting*. I know NOTHING about building and remodeling and things but even I wondered why they would rewrite their contract and not get a lawyer to look at it when they said Bitsy should have. ???? I would have enjoyed a little more with Jane's kids and Mel too. If you love Jane Jeffry, you'll want to read this book just because it's part of the series. I hope there will be another book but I also hope the author will feel free to take the time necessary for inspiration to work. :-)
Rating:
Summary: Somewhat disappointing
Review: I was thrilled to see a new Jane Jefferys book by Jill Churchill on the new rack at my local library, because the series so far has been one of my favourites of the "accidental sleuth" variety. Unfortunately, _House of the Seven Mables_ is not up to par, lacking much of the warmth and humour, and, yes, direction of the books in the rest of the series. In the latest of a chain of good ideas that turn out badly, Jane and her sidekick Shelley Nowack get roped into acting as decorators for a friend who is remodeling a Victorian Monstrosity. An iffy proposition from the start, the project goes increasingly sour as Jane and Shelley discover that the contractor is incompetent and the work is being sabotaged by persons unknown. Soon enough someone turns up dead and to protect their own interests -- as well as their skins -- the two friends turn their talents towards solving the crime. The premise is not a bad one, but the work as a whole borders on the incoherent, lacking discernable pattern and full of random detail that adds nothing to the plot. The characters are lackluster and their motivations, where they appear, do not contribute to the mystery. Many of the situations and characters are stereotyped. I was particularly put off by the portrayal of feminism, which poked mean-natured fun at the concept and seemed to say that only whining incompetent women would embrace the title, while real women have no need for that kind of nonsense. I also felt that the job-site setting was poorly researched and inaccurately portrayed. With a husband in the building trades, I could not help but wonder how anyone in his or her right mind could have been roped into such a situation in the first place. That such a disaster as the remodeling project was allowed to continue as long as it did without the homeowner's taking action stretched my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. Jane and Shelley spend lots of time doing random things that have nothing to do with the matter at hand, almost as if they don't find the actual crime very interesting. I'm sorry to say, it's not. To anyone paying attention, the solution is evident from about chapter five. This would have been okay if the book had put together successive pieces of the puzzle in a slow revelation of complex motive and complex relationships, but it didn't. Jane literally stumbles on the solution by accident in what can best be called an anticlimax. I was still amused by this book and I give it three stars rather than two because I like the series and care about the characters. But it's a disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: Quick read, great story.
Review: I'm a new fan of Jill Churchill and the Jane Jeffry Series. I enjoyed the writing and story and the only weaknesses I saw was that I couldn't understand why Jane would continue to go along with Shelly's project when she had such strong reservations. Also, I figured out who the killer was soon after she was introduced (and I guess that's kind of a biggie in a mystery). There were some distracting editing flubs too. But I still liked it enough that I will read the other books in the series.
I found a story featuring women in non-traditional businesses appealing. And I appreciated the length. Some seem to feel a book is better the longer it is, no matter how the story drags in some parts. I say get to the point and get it over with. Thank you Miss Churchill.
C.M. Miller, author Accrual Way To Die---An Audrey Wilson Mystery
Rating:
Summary: The House of Seven Mabels
Review: It took an ugly divorce to get homeroom cupcake queen Bitsy Burnside aboard the feminist boat, but now it's full speed ahead. Using the proceeds of her settlement and a healthy inheritance from a rich great-uncle, she's bought a huge old dormered Victorian house that she plans to renovate into a corporate bed-and-breakfast. And she's hired carpenters named Jacqueline and Henrietta, a sheetrock installer named Evaline, and an electrician named Thomasina to work on the project under the rather inept direction of general contractor Sandra Anderson. Now she wants to hire Shelley Nowack and her best friend and next-door neighbor Jane Jeffry (Mulch Ado About Nothing, 2000, etc.) as decorators. Shelley's all for it. Not only will she earn some pin money, but decorator's credentials will allow her to browse the fabulous Merchandise Mart, home to over a thousand different showerheads. Jane's more skeptical, especially since the worksite has already been the target of several nasty pranks, including a bag of frozen shrimp shoved into the ductwork and a fake bomb in a toolbox. But when Sandra's corpse in found in the basement, Jane's enthusiasm returns-not for renovating Bitsy's place, but for solving the murder. Fueled by a combination of self-confidence and imperturbable naovete (and ignoring the warnings of her sometime squeeze, Detective Mel Van Dyne), she interviews suspect after suspect until she stumbles upon the truth. Neither rich in clues nor a milestone in the annals of feminism, but still highly readable.
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