Our Husband

 

Author: Stephanie Bond
Genre: Mystery
Type: Kindle ebook
Publisher: Martin's Press
First Published: 2000
First Line: "Dear Mr Blankenship, My name is Richard Wannamaker."

Synopsis:  After Ray Carmichael is in an accident his whole world falls apart when his three wives learn of each other.  Yes, unbeknownst to his wives Ray is a bigamist.  Beatrix is the bitter, rich and cantankerous first wife.  Natalie, the second wife, is a doctor in a small town and fills the 'good girl' role.  Finally, Ruby is the third wife who is a very young stripper with the brains and maturity of a can of tuna. 

As expected, Ray's three wives hate each other when they first meet at the hospital.  Unfortunately within minutes of the wives learning about each other Ray dies under suspicious circumstances leaving the police pointing fingers at them.  With no one else to help them the three wives band together to solve their husband's murder.

My Thoughts:  I added this little 'gem' to my Kindle cart based solely on four things.  A quick read of the synopsis, the low cost, a look at the fairly high rating it received from other readers and knowing that I had enjoyed other books by this author of the 'Blackbird Sisters' series.  Except that Stephanie Bond isn't the author of the Blackbird Sisters series, Nancy Martin is {my bad}.  Too many books and authors floating around in my cranium and not double checking my info are my excuses.

This book was touted as a 'humourous, romantic mystery' I'd have to say a resounding 'no' to all three descriptives.  Not only was it not funny but it had very little romance (unless you count having a quickie in the back of a car romantic) and the sad little mystery seemed to be added in order to give this book some kind of purpose.  Honestly, I feel a little deceived by the high ratings it received on various book sites.

It may sound like I'm being hard on this book but I'm tired of reading silliness without substance.  This had a very slow pace and didn't even have a very intriguing mystery t'boot.  I almost hate to use the term mystery because it was so unsuspenseful and was overshadowed by the silliness of the main characters and their asinine banter that I hardly focused on the mystery of who killed their husband.  Honestly, I couldn't even muster up enough energy to care who killed this guy.

Unfortunately, added to the lack of romance and mystery are the characters who are total clichés and not developed throughout the book at all.  We've got the nasty, rich, 'older' wife.  Check.  We have the nice wife whom I think readers are supposed to relate to but who comes off as a wussy doormat.  Check.  And finally, we have the ditzy airhead stripper wife in Ruby who has a penchant for reciting abstract trivia that she learns from Alex Trebeck. Check.

Was the book funny? Only the barbs and jabs at Ruby's {lack of} intellect were remotely funny. That was it for humour and making fun of the ditz got old quick.

Rounding out my reasons for not liking this book is the fact that the storyline was totally implausible.  For these three very different women to band together shortly after hating each other isn't realistic.  Women don't work that way!  We all know that women have a mental catalogue in their brains which stores all the bad crap that was done to them by others.  We don't forget ... ever.  Nor do we become besties with the women whom we hated just last week.  It would have been more realistic to have some catty fight between them than to have them quickly mend fences and work together to solve the murder of the man who kept them in the dark about each other.  Or is that just me being cynical?

Unfortunately I am now the not-so-proud owner of this digital copy of this fluff.  If you're looking for a good mystery series with some humourous bits try Nancy Martin's "Blackbird Sisters" mystery series.  I recommend giving this book a pass.

My Rating: 1/5 stars