A Quiche Before Dying

A Quiche Before Dying
by Jill Churchill
Recommended Ages: 15+

Jane Jeffry is a widowed mother of three in a Chicago suburb who has an on-and-off romance with a police detective named Mel, with whom she has already solved a couple of crimes. One summer week while two of her kids are away from home and her too-perfect mother has dropped in for a visit, Jane decides to take a neighborhood writing class focusing on autobiographies. But instead of writing her own life story, she starts the memoir of a fictional character. Also, she gets sidetracked when a horrid woman gets murdered on the second night of the class.

Mrs. General Pryce – I don't know how she's styled to her friends, because she doesn't have any – is as battle-axy as they come, but even she isn't equal to a stiff snort of poison. It apparently got into her system through a quiche that Jane brought to the dinner party, attended only by members of the writing class. Difficult as it is her for her to suspect her friends and neighbors, Jane must wrestle with the fact that someone in that class is a murderer – and having killed once, they may kill again. And with the police making little apparent progress, Jane feels responsible to solve the crime before the week is up, and the class ends, and the suspect gets away.

This is a quick-paced, cheerful murder mystery with vivid characters, crisp dialogue, a bright streak of humor and some romance as well. Despite her self-image as a domestic frump, Jane proves to be a dangerous opponent for a killer to tangle with. It's a warm, cozy, down-to-earth mystery populated by suburban moms, teenagers, pets, appetizing dishes – and I'm not just talking about Detective Mel here – all livened up by one dastardly character and a murder that you almost don't feel bad about, except that it means there's a murderer about.

This 1993 novel, not to be confused with a mystery of the same name by Joanne Pence, is the third of 16 books in the "Jane Jeffry" series by Jill Churchill (1943-2023), an award-winning, Kansas City-based mystery author. It feels weird to say this about an era I lived through (I was in college in 1993), but these days this book reads like a period piece. Some other titles in the series include Grime and Punishment, The Class Menagerie, Silence of the Hams, War and Peas, Fear of Frying, Mulch Ado About Nothing and The Accidental Florist. From the 1970s to 2013, Churchill also wrote three "Lady of Fire" novels under the pen name Valerie Vayle, seven "Grace and Favor" novels," and around 15 other novels, often under the pen names of Vayle, Amanda Singer and Janice Young Brooks.