About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

DREAM HOUSE
by Rochelle Krich
Ballantine, September 2003
337 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 034544972X


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Homes are being violently vandalized in upscale neighborhoods in Los Angeles. At first no one took any real notice of it and the police thought that the destruction was done as pranks. The residents of these communities were divided about whether or not to join in the Historical Architectural Restoration and Preservation organization. The HARP boards werenıt allowing the home owners to remodel. HARPıs mission is keep the neighborhoods preserved so they would look the way they always did.

Molly Blume, Crime Sheet columnist, thought that the residents from the two opposite factions were vandalizing each others homes. She decided to write a story about HARP and the neighborhoods but soon found herself deeply involved with a kidnapping/murder investigation.

Professor Oscar Linney used to be an active member of HARP. When he became ill he signed his home over to his daughter Margaret and her husband Hank Reston. As his illnesses progressed he had to leave the home he loved and move in with his daughter and his much loved house was put up for sale. When Margaret disappears foul play is suspected but her body or any evidence of a kidnapping is never discovered. Five months later Oscar is found dead in his empty house when it is burned down. No one knew why the elderly old man was there but the police said that arson was involved.

As she researches the situation to write her Crime Sheet column, Molly Blume originally suspects that the burned house was part of the acts of vandalism connected to HARP activities. But somehow it didnıt quite fit the pattern.

The quest for the truth leads Molly to ask the investigating police and the members of HARP questions. Soon her life is also threatened.

DREAM HOUSE is a first-rate story that takes us into the lives of the wealthy who live in Los Angeles. We also learn a lot about Molly Blume, an Orthodox Jewish woman, who had left her traditional Jewish beliefs for a short while, only to return again. Molly finds herself happily reunited with an old high school boyfriend, who is now an Orthodox Rabbi.

Six days of the week we follow Molly as she goes to each vandalized home, questioning the owners. But on the Shabbos, Friday night and Saturday, Molly invites us into her familyıs homes as we learn about the Jewish religion and its customs. She also shares her grandmotherıs recipe for challa, the traditional braided loaf of bread.

DREAM HOUSE is author Rochelle Krichıs second Molly Blume novel. Ms. Krichıs characters are well written and thoroughly entertaining and the investigative portions of the book are meticulously written and intricately thought out. The reader is immediately taken into the mystery and completely involved in the goings on.

DREAM HOUSE is just the book for anyone who wants to read a skillfully written mystery with solid and interesting characters. I absolutely recommend it!

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, September 2003

This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]