Book 20, 2020

[chez_jae]

Hanging Hannah by Evan Marshall

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I almost finished my work book at the office yesterday, so I brought it home to read the last chapter. It was Hanging Hannah by Evan Marshall, and it's the second book in his "Jane Stuart and Winky" mystery series. I read the first one and this one, and I won't be reading any more. Story is told in third-person pov, from the perspective of the main character, Jane Stuart, who is a widowed literary agent. One chapter into this one, and I remembered why I don't like Jane. She's whiny, rude, self-centered and condescending. I am amazed that anyone finds her to be a likable character.

After solving the disappearance of her nanny, Jane was featured in an article in People magazine. Therefore, when a young woman is found hanging in the woods behind the B&B where Jane was having a birthday party for her son, Nick, everyone expects her to investigate. Jane does so, aided by her new boyfriend, detective Stanley Greenberg. In the meantime, she still has deals to make, book proposals to read, and a romance convention to attend. When a contact in the publishing world recommends Jane to a mega-star who wants to write a book, she finds herself as the agent to Goddess, a talented but brash genius. Things are looking up for Jane, until more people die. Now the race is on to find a killer before Jane becomes one of the victims.

The story itself wasn't bad, but as mentioned, I don't like Jane. Aside from that, many of the plot points were far-fetched.
- Jane's 10 year-old son is the one who discovered the woman hanging in the woods. Naturally, he screamed and cried and was distraught. Yet that evening, he's calmly discussing it with his mother, stating he believes she was killed, because he didn't see any branches in the tree she could have climbed, nor anything she could have stood on to jump off of. Um, I just don't see a child assessing a scene like that. Perhaps if Jane would have noticed these things, it may have been more plausible.
- Did the police search the cave, where the young woman had been living, at all? When Greenberg takes Jane there to see it (because, why wouldn't he?), she takes note of some of the trash left around, including some important clues...which she didn't share with Greenberg (because, why would she?).
- On the subject of Greenberg, why does Jane keep thinking of him as "Greenberg"? They're dating! Would she not be thinking of him as "Stanley"? Guh.
- The solution to the crime was so convoluted that I doubt Sherlock Holmes could have figured it out, yet Jane manages it. Then, rather than tell the police (i.e. Greenberg), she decides to set a trap of sorts and out the killer herself (because, why not?). Of course, she nearly gets killed in the process.

At least Winky played a part in this book, unlike the first one.

Favorite line: "Shoot," Jane said. "Oh, sorry. Guess that's not a good expression to use with a cop."
I had to dig deep to find something quotable. Guh.

In short, the main character is a twat, the plot/mystery was unbelievable (and I don't mean that in a good way), and the reader had zero chance to solve it. In fact, I am certain Jane had zero chance to solve it, yet she did. Unbelievable.

This one gets two stars.