From Publishers Weekly
Isenberg's latest Bel Barrett mystery glows with heart, humor and hot flashes. One winter night, elderly pigeon fancier Dominic Tomaselli falls off a Hoboken roof and dies of exposure. His daughter suspects foul play and calls in Professor Bel Barrett, who teaches the senior memoir class Dominic attended. An inveterate sleuth, Bel welcomes distraction from the chagrins of menopause and the challenge of planning a wedding (to longtime live-in love Sol) that will accommodate her army of friends and relatives without breaking the bank. Drawing on the class's memoirs and the help of her staunch female pals, Bel slowly untangles the truth about Dom's death—and gets happily wed as well. Her investigation is low-key at best (strategy: chat with suspects and sources constantly, preferably over snacks), but the book's sharp-eyed energy more than compensates for the mystery's mildness. Beautifully drawn, Bel tackles everything from meddlesome kids to stress incontinence with zesty honesty. Thoughtful references to the human cost of urban gentrification, the complexities of elder care and the lingering aftermath of 9/11 anchor her playful ruminations; underneath its comedy, the book is a surprisingly nuanced look at the way individual lives and communities survive difficult transitions. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Glows with heart, humor and hot flashes."


Seattle Times
"Funny, fast-moving."


Book Description

She fell in love in her fifties, but busy New Jersey community college professor Bel Barrett can barely find time to plan her upcoming wedding to her sweetie Sol -- or to read urgently needed e-mail messages on bladder control at mid-life. She must have been crazy to volunteer to teach a writing class to senior citizens. And fitting extracurricular sleuthing into her overbooked schedule should be damn near impossible.

But when one of her older students, racing pigeon enthusiast Dom Tomaselli, fails to show up after a death in the family -- his own -- Bel can't control her urge to investigate ... especially since Dom's distressed daughter insists the old man's demise was not accidental. When Bel ruffles feathers in the arcane world of racing pigeons, where the sins of the Tomaselli family come home to roost, she becomes a clay pigeon herself. One false move and Bel won't have to worry anymore about wedding plans -- someone else will be planning her funeral.


About the Author
Jane Isenberg taught English to urban community college students for close to thirty years. She has been writing mysteries ever since she experienced her first hot flash. Her copies of Modern Maturity are delivered to her new home in Amherst, Massachusetts, that she shares with her husband Phil Thompkins.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

She fell in love in her fifties, but busy New Jersey community college professor Bel Barrett can barely find time to plan her upcoming wedding to her sweetie Sol—or to read urgently needed e-mail messages on bladder control at mid-life. She must have been crazy to volunteer to teach a writing class to senior citizens. And fitting extracurricular sleuthing into her overbooked schedule should be damn near impossible.

But when one of her older students, racing pigeon enthusiast Dom Tomaselli, fails to show up after a death in the family—his own—Bel can't control her urge to investigate ... especially since Dom's distressed daughter insists the old man's demise was not accidental. When Bel ruffles feathers in the arcane world of racing pigeons, where the sins of the Tomaselli family come home to roost, she becomes a clay pigeon herself. One false move and Bel won't have to worry anymore about wedding plans—someone else will be planning her funeral.

About the Author:

Jane Isenberg taught English to urban community college students for close to thirty years. She has been writing mysteries ever since she experienced her first hot flash. Her copies of Modern Maturity are delivered to her new home in Amherst, Massachusetts, that she shares with her husband Phil Thompkins.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly