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Author Jill Churchill booklist (click here)

Book Review By Ann
Grime and Punishment by Jill Churchill

Jane Jeffry is a widowed housewife in the suburbs of Chicago. She leads a mostly boring life, but she gets involved when her next-door neighbor's cleaning woman is murdered, only the murderer got the wrong person. It was a substitute for the regular cleaning lady, Edith and the substitute happened to look like Edith. Jane and her next-door neighbor, Shelley, figure out that Edith is blackmailing people and that the murderer is one of the ladies in their neighborhood circle who got tired of paying Edith blackmail money.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - very humorous
How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story:
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - nearly 100%
Kind of investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
descript. of violence and chases - 30 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - revenge
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Midwest
City? Yes
City: - Chicago

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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