Avon, Sept 2002, 6.50, 272 pp.
ISBN 0380818876
Life gets really interesting following menopause, as Bel Barrett will tell anyone foolishly enough willing to listen to her. She's a fully tenured English professor at River Edge Community College while gaining a reputation in her area of New Jersey of solving any homicide that comes her way.
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This semester is surprising to Bel as she takes on the leadership of the newly formed Kayak club when the founder had a family emergency. One of the members of the group is Belinda Judd who is also in Bel's English class. Bel has a fondness for her because she has dyslexia but is trying hard to learn even though the college has nobody on staff that is trained to help students with learning disabilities. When Belinda's body is found battered and beaten, Bel is determined to find out who the perpetrator is. She comes up with six viable suspects, all of whom have excellent motives.
A Bel Barrett mystery is a real treat because the protagonist is always involved in something most people wouldn't try. Jane Isenberg is a talented writer who always uses humor to defuse the tension of the taut story line. The problems Bel and her friends have to deal with on a daily bases are realistically portrayed and are ones the audience can identify with while appreciating OUT OF HORMONE'S WAY.
Harriet Klausner
The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner