Grace and Favor: Love for Sale

Love for Sale by Jill Churchill

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is very light reading, but cute. I'm reading a heavy book about Russia, so this is a little relief. Grace and Favor is a mansion with strings attached. Robert and Lily were two rich young siblings at the time of Stock Market crash. Their wealthy father lost everything and killed himself. They were penniless when an uncle died and left them a mansion with a lot of strings. They have to stay there for 10 years, get jobs and give back to the town. They turn Grace and Favor into a boarding house with some interesting guests. The town just happens to have all sorts of crimes that connect somehow to the mansion. A friendly sheriff relies on help from Robert and Lily. In this case, a cheating radio preacher gets killed at the manor and there are all sorts of suspects. There are also some other things going around town, but all the strings are tied up neatly in the end.

There are some very promising characters in this book, but they need to be fleshed out more. I'd love to see some of them come back again in future books.


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Who's Sorry Now? by Jill Churchill

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This time the mystery centers on a German/American who seems to be targeted for some hate crimes. Robert and Lily are involved along with their good friend, the young Sheriff. Suddenly an out of luck railroad worker is killed just when Robert has gotten him a job sorting mail. There doesn't seem to be anyone around who would wish to do him harm. Eventually, after meeting a number of new characters, the murder is solved.

There are all these young marriageable characters, but none of them seem to be pairing off. We keep getting hints that some of these folks care for each other, but from book to book, there doesn't seem to be much progression. There are a lot of quirky characters who could be developed more, but at this point, they are still too lightly drawn. I hope the author can flesh them out more in later books.

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In the Still of the Night by Jill Churchill

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Robert and Lily have a great idea for earning some money. They've invited a special guest to Grace and Favor, a reclusive author, and then invited paying guests who wish to attend his lectures, share meals with him and, in general, get to know him better. This book was filled with interesting characters and plot twists and turns. I'd say this is the best of Jill Churchill's that I have read. The characters are better drawn and more interesting. Lily's idea for the " resident author" weekend seemed great to me. I'd love to spend a weekend with some of my favorite authors in a relaxed setting like Grace and Favor!

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