Not so good
Zack and Jill? Good grief. The entire feminist approach was also rather hard to take. I am certainly an independent female, but I don't find it necessary to hit people over the head with it. Also, what was the attachment between Jill and her great aunt? It didn't seem so strong before her murder. Jill never went to see her or communicated with her and now that she is dead, Jill is determined on revenge.

There are so many things in this book that don't seem to make sense. All that build up and then the easily seen villian is just sort of thrown out in the last few pages. The murderer sure does some strange things - perhaps the steriods?

I am read most of Ms. Lowell's books and was looking forward to this one. I even bought the hardback and it was a waste of money. I hope Ms. Lowell has not written herself out as I have enjoyed so many of her previous books.

If you anticipate reading this one, I suggest you get it from the library.

BLUE SMOKE MURDER
Excellent, well written, keeps you involved from the beginning to the end. This is one book you can't wait for the ending for what happens yet you really don't want it to come that soon. Also, very little romance. good suspense and action....rich

A little Boring /but Not Terrible
IT took me longer to read this newest book of Lowell's. In one way it was fast paced but there is page after page of text book essays of how the art world works. I have read so many Romance/Mystery or thriller about the art world and don't think I ever read one with such detail to every aspect of it. I found it terrible boring and found myself skimming or just putting the book aside.

The second thing that bothered me was the whole Feminist attitude about everything. IT was brought in every few pages. Okay we get it! One paragraph has Zach asking Jill if she needs help moving a heavy trunk. She tells me she doesn't "need" his help but if he "wants" to help that's fine. Geesh! The author makes it out that Jill can take care of herself and doesn't need any man but interesting when threatened she calls St Kilda for help. h-m-m-m-m! THe feminist idea spilled over into too many areas of the book. I, myself am not threatened by whether my husband can do something better than me. I'm independent and don't feel the need to prove it. What a waste of time! It seems like over half the book is wasted with the descriptive art world and the whole independednt female idea. The book could have been pages shorter.

I could not believe that these experts at St Kilda wouldn't have thought of a bug and even at one point it's mentioned but not pursued. You would have thought they would have equipment to detect a bug. Then I took issue with the fact that Jill would be sent out alone to face the killer. That was a bit unbelieveable.

It was fun to read about the previous characters again and Faroe and Grace's new baby. I did like Zach and Jill's characters and thought they connected well. The book is not a total let down and some may find the information on the art world interesting but think I have just read too many for it to be interesting anymore. Nora Roberts has several books that involved the art world as does Elizabeth Adler and I don't think they went on in such detail about it. One almost looses track of what is going on-it's distracting. I skimmed so much that I may have missed some of the story line but felt I knew what was going on and finally just wanted to get to the end.

The storyline was okay but just too long with too many details. As I said not a keeper for me but not a terrible book either.

Blue Smoke and Mundane

Unlike some other reviewers that were disappointed that this combination of
adventure, mystery, and romance did not measure up to the author's prior
work, I was disappointed in an absolute sense. There is a mystery and there
is lots of adventure, and there is romance or at least lust. There is enough
going on to keep me turning the pages. Actually, I listened to it, but I
kept feeding in the CDs. The recording was good, distinct voices, good
accents, good pacing. The weaknesses are in the text, not the performance.

There are too many coincidences and inconsistencies. Our heroine waits until
entering the rapids before starting a safety check. The MCPs are too simple.
Every computer system can be hacked, and it only takes a few minutes.

Some reviewers complained about the amount of detail about western art.
I'm not much interested in art (perhaps one museum visit per year) but I
found that part of the book interesting. Readers that enjoy the combination
of art and mystery will probably prefer "Loot" and a series of three others
by Aaron Elkins.

"Blue Smoke and Mundane" was good enough that I will probably try the
author again.

Very boring and not factual!
Usually I like all that Elizabeth Lowell writes, have read all of her books. This is the first one that I have ever written a comment on. Not only does she not have her facts correct about the differences between the LDS Church and FLDS religion, she never makes a distinction in her "off" comments. You knew who the real painter of the painting were in just a few chapters. I wish I would have read all of the comments about this book before reading it, it is interesting that the good comments are always before the ones that are not as many stars. I will really read all the comments on her next book before I read it. Very Disappointing!