Blue Smoke and Murder | Elizabeth Lowell | Characters are great but plot falls flat

Blue Smoke and Murder | Elizabeth Lowell | not up to her usual standards

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Blue Smoke and Murder

	Blue Smoke and Murder Elizabeth Lowell William Morrow, 2008 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 28 reviews view larger image
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Characters are great but plot falls flat

I am a devoted Elizabeth Lowell fan and own everyone of her books that I can find. I am sorry to say that this book was really hard to finish because the story was not all that interesting.

In her usual voice, Lowell does a fantastic job of describing her main characters. Jill and Zach are an interesting couple who have a palpable attraction for each other. Lowell has shows you how they meet and gives you circumstances that unite the couple for a good cause (i.e., staying alive long enough to unravel the mystery of Jill's art inheritance).

I lost interest in this book about 50% of the way into it. At that point, the story didn't really leave any mysteries for the reader as I had already figured out the rest of the book. Instead, I felt like I was waiting for Lowell to get on with it so I could go to my next book.

This book is probably the least satisfying read out of all her books. Since Lowell doesn't publish very often, I was pretty disappointed in how uninterestingly this book was written.

For other Lowell readers, I would recommend checking this book out at your local library and not spending money on it until it comes out in paperback.

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not up to her usual standards

I've read every book by Elizabeth Lowell and she has always been one of my favorite romance authors. I was disappointed by this book though, I thought the characters were flat and the romance lacking. In addition, as mentioned in some of the other reviews, she waxed a bit too long about the ways and means of the art world - usually these details just fill in her books but this time she took up far more time with it.

Always worth reading....

I've read every Elizabeth Lowell book (including those under other pseudonyms).

I read this book in one afternoon. I didn't want to put it down. So, I would have to say it was worth reading.

The quailty of an Elizabeth Lowell book is very high and the story and background is always very intersting.

Why not more stars? I kept waiting for something more in this book that did not materialize.

This book reminded me way too much of Die in Plain Sight.
Female inherits paintings from relative
Paintings may be forgeries
Female(who is a talented painter in her own right) is suspected / accused of painting them herself)
Secret reveled by the paintings that someone will kill to keep
Male lead is a colector of something other than traditional art

I found it fairly predictible. I wasn't drawn into the characters as I usually am. In fact, I found the male lead very one-dimensional. Usually, the main charachters (both) have a lot of depth. I didn't feel that way while reading this book.

In short, if you were only going to read one of Elizabeth's Lowells books, pick another one. (Die in Plain Sight was MUCH better in my opinion). Irrigardless of its faults, it is still a better book than most on the book store shelf.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6

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