Occasion of Revenge

Rating:
Summary: A lot of cliches, little subtlety
Review: A celebratory event in Hannah Ives' family - long overdue after her tough battle with cancer - is marred when "Daddy" shows up with a thrice-widowed blond floozy on his arm - only 8 months after Hannah's mother died. Even with Hannah giving Darlene the benefit of every doubt, Darlene's every behavior seems to poke repeatedly and deliberately in an open wound and confirm her status as a gold digging witch.

Hannah's family is further stunned - and her sister Ruth incensed - when, reluctantly attending a pre-Christmas party at Darlene's house, Daddy sheepishly announces that he and Darlene will be married on New Year's Eve. The next morning Darlene turns up dead and Daddy is missing.

This mystery is a pleasant and light read. Pick it when you're in the mood for an appetizer but aren't hungry enough for an entrée.

Rating:
Summary: Hannah Triumphs Again!
Review: Getting a new Hannah Ives mystery is like curling up for a chat with a really good friend, and Occassion of Revenge exceeded expectations. Marcia Talley has given us a smart, funny, sassy heroine with a uniquely appealing voice, but what makes the series special are the real issues hidden within the humor and fast-paced plot. In Occasion of Revenge, Hannah is still grieving over her mother's death when her father shows up at a family affair with Darlene, an all-too-obivous golddigger. When Darlene is found dead the following day, Hannah must face her father's fallibility, the complicated dynamics of her family, and even the humanity hidden behind the victim's brazen facade.

Rating:
Summary: Hannah Triumphs Again!
Review: Getting a new Hannah Ives mystery is like curling up for a chat with a really good friend, and Occassion of Revenge exceeded expectations. Marcia Talley has given us a smart, funny, sassy heroine with a uniquely appealing voice, but what makes the series special are the real issues hidden within the humor and fast-paced plot. In Occasion of Revenge, Hannah is still grieving over her mother's death when her father shows up at a family affair with Darlene, an all-too-obivous golddigger. When Darlene is found dead the following day, Hannah must face her father's fallibility, the complicated dynamics of her family, and even the humanity hidden behind the victim's brazen facade.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful discovery
Review: I discovered Marcia Talley while reading her chapter in Naked Came the Phoenix. Loved it and loved this book! In Occasion of Revenge, Talley takes us to the quaint eastern shore Maryland town of Chestertown where her widowed father, George, has invited her to a Christmas party that turns out to be, to Hannah's surprise, an opportunity to announce his engagement to the dispicable Darlene who has already buried two husbands. Then Darlene turns up dead and Daddy goes missing -- not much Christmas cheer in the Ives household. There is so much to like in this book. The plot is well-developed, but the characters are wonderful. Especially LouElla who might not be as wacky as everyone thinks and Hannah's little granddaughter, Chloe. I suspect Talley is a grandmother herself, so accurately does she write about children -- even this 1-year-old is a "real" character!! And I chuckled over the tie-in to Naked Came the Phoenix when Hannah's son-in-law, Dante, moves east to take a job at an exclusive spa!! Now I'm going to read Talley's two previous books. Can't wait!

Rating:
Summary: Better and better!
Review: I picked this book up because of what one of my favorite authors, Anne Perry, said about it on the cover -- that the characters are so real that they must exist somewhere off the page. Anne Perry is right! From the first page, I couldn't put the book down because I was so caught up in the characters, their relationships and also, of course, with the really terrific mystery!! There must be hundreds of thousands of us who wish we could "bump off" the wicked stepmother. Marcia Talley does it for us -- and more -- in this carefully plotted, beautifully written and, yes, humorous mystery novel. I am going to go out and buy the two previous books in the Hannah Ives mystery series.

Rating:
Summary: I could not put this book down and heartily recommend it.
Review: Just as Hannah Ives is gazing around at the beautiful arrangements for Connie's wedding and reflecting on the happiness around her, she espies her recently widowed father in the company of a frizzy -headed blonde, identified as Darlene, a widow from Chestertown.
Darlene quickly establishes herself as a force to be reckoned with, carefully monopolising George's company and deftly cutting out any arrangement made by Hannah and her sister Ruth. When George announces his engagement to Darlene there seems little Hannah can do to stop what she anticipates is a disaster for her father.
When Darlene is found dead in her bath tub after the engagement party, and on the on the eve of Christmas, the family is thrown into disarray when it becomes clear that George has disappeared.
This is the third Hannah Ives mystery, and as with the previous ones it centres around the family. As Hannah agonises and searches for her father the description of the Christmas Eve Carol service was truly wonderful, and transported me to the many Christmas Eve carol services I have experienced. Hannah is convinced that her father could not have killed Darlene, but where is he? And as the hours pass with no word of him she faces his addiction to alcohol which she and her sisters have tried to ignore, as being a serious problem.
Once again, Marcia Talley has written a fascinating mystery around Hannah Ives and her diverse family. As with her previous books, the characterisation was brilliant and I could not put this book down and heartily recommend it.
-----
Lizzie Hayes

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating who-done-it
Review: The last few years have not been easy on Hannah Ives ever since she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent chemotherapy. Eight months ago her mother died and Daddy became an alcoholic.

Just when she thinks things can not turn any worse, she meets Daddy’s new girlfriend at a family wedding, which turns into a case of dislike at first sight. Her mom is dead less than a year and her father is seeing a [...]woman years younger than him, who has several buried husbands to her name. The family attends a Christmas party, but leave in embarrassment and disgust. The next day, the girlfriend of Hannah’s father is found dead and good ole dad is missing. Led by Hannah, everyone searches for Daddy feeling confident that he may be an old fool but not a killing fool.

The heroine in this amateur sleuth novel is a courageous role model that readers should emulate. The mystery is filled with numerous exciting subplots that seamlessly flow back to the strong story line, making for a wonderful reading experience. Marcia Talley is a creative author whose characters are a cross section of real people.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This is the third outing of Hannah Ives, and it was a great disappointment. The title gave away the mystery long before the end. The conversations reeked of cliches. Apparently Ms. Talley has lost interest in her creation. It makes you long for the lastest installment from Sue Grafton. After 17 books with character Kinsey Millhone, her stories are still as fresh as the first book.

Maybe this is why Ms. Talley is spending so much time on the dull "serial novels". This is just a shame!

Don't buy this if you must read it; get it at the library!


Rating:
Summary: Real Family + Real Mystery = Great Read!
Review: With each book, Marcia Talley gets better and better. The first Hannah Ives, Sing It To Her Bones, won an Agatha nomination for Best First mystery and was terrific, yet Unbreathed Memories (#2 in the series) knocked my socks off. Now, don't know how she's done it, but Occasion of Revenge surpasses the first two! Hannah is matron of honor at her sister-in-law's long-awaited wedding to her policeman sweetheart, when her father shows up with his "date", Darlene, a thrice-married opportunist with larceny on her mind. Dad proposes, but the engagement party turns to tragedy when a body shows up in the bathtub and Dad goes missing. Is he the murderer or a victim, too? Once again, Talley holds us spellbound with the wonderful Chesapeake setting (much of the action takes place in Chestertown on Maryland's eastern shore)and richly-drawn characters that seem to walk right out of the book and into our hearts and lives. And, once again, the author had me in tears -- a Christmas Eve candlelight service at the Naval Academy Chapel was particularly touching. And the finale -- a classic chase scene through downtown Annapolis during the city-wide New Years' Eve celebrations -- tied up all the loose ends -- and more! -- and left me with a smile on my face. Can't wait to see what Hannah gets up to in the next book!!