It’s Eat Pray Love meets murder mystery in Lise McClendon’s deliciously cozy chronicles of sisterhood, international travel … and a soupçon of danger.5 ★ “This is a charming series of the adventures of 5 sisters. Merle the middle sister is the predominant focus of the books and one falls in love with her! Then we meet the rest of the clan. It is impossible to put the books down (my kind of … kind of books)! Merle’s adventures alone and with her sisters are simply wonderful. There is just enough intrigue to keep one interested and to move on to the next book. I hope you find the books to be as grand as I did.”
“Enjoyed getting to know the Bennet sisters and their relationships. It was nice reading about some women who have a variety of life experiences. These characters are beyond the age of 30. I think any woman would enjoy reading this but the narrator is in her 50’s and I enjoyed her perspective.”
A sprawling, exuberant, generous-spirited cozy mystery series with a yummy side of international adventure.
A little bit chick lit, a touch of cozy mystery, a whole lot of humor, romance, suspense—all in one box set!
BLACKBIRD FLY – Book One
A dead husband might be sadder except that once Harry dies, his widow, Merle Bennett realizes almost immediately it was no wonder she didn’t know anything about him. They’d pretty much been leading separate lives—several of them, as it turns out. Still, the will’s quite a shock. And so is an intriguing surprise—Harry left her a family home in a tiny French village. Or maybe a family home. Because who was Harry’s family? Finding out is half the fun.
Merle sets out to claim her inheritance, adolescent son in tow, and thus begins a sojourn reminiscent of A Year in Provence mixed up with something by Carolyn Hart, maybe, or M.C. Beaton. Because Malcouziac, Merle’s tiny Dordogne town, is the quintessential village—just perfect for a murder. And a rollicking good time.
THE GIRL IN THE EMPTY DRESS – Book Two
Law practice is in the Bennett sisters’ blood—along with designer suits and stilettos. But they’ve decided to ditch the more predictable Caribbean cruise or spa weekend at a five star hotel to celebrate Merle Bennett’s 50th birthday hiking the French countryside of Dordogne. There’s just one catch: Merle’s little sister Francie has decided to bring along a sixth wheel: a work colleague named Gillian Sargent, whose utter aloofness wouldn’t be so bad. Except she seems to be hiding something…
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Liked the French setting, characters are mostly believable, dialogue flows and there are always a few twists and turns you don’t see coming – at least I didn’t. It’s not a heavy read and not flimsy either … good for bedtime … if you can make yourself stop!
looking forward to the next book.
Like the realistic characters. The real emotions and twist & turns of relationships. Also the strong bond between sisters. Like i have with mine
Very enjoyable. I’m a geneology buff so the family history search made this very interesting to me. Also how Family history can affect our present lives.
I really loved this book series. Interesting characters, locale, French wine, and mystery.
This is a well-written book with a just-complex-enough plot with believable characters. For me, the Bennett Sisters were so believable that I had to struggle hard not to hate them for this. Permit me to explain. My mom was one of 6 sisters whose on-going bickering and soap opera-creation with her sibs dominated the lives of their offspring. Because of this, I can say with certainty that Lise McClendon captured the schizophrenic tone of such relationships perfectly. Fortunately for me, the Bennett sisters dwell in a more affluent circle, don’t live in close proximity to each other, and work through their complex relationships in France as well as the US. Consequently, even as the ghosts of the “Aunt Pack” that caused us cousins to to flee asap did creep in periodically as the Bennett sisters bickered, lied to each other, then inevitably kissed and made up, it didn’t ruin my ability to enjoy these two mysteries. It takes a special literary skill to elicit such potent memories and still enable the reader to complete and enjoy the book.
Blackbird Fly #1 – This is my first read by this author and it was not what I expected. A good story filled with plenty of storylines that did keep my interest. Merle has so much happen to her with the death of her husband; her discoveries are many and varied. I like that the characters are real and do not follow the stupidity formula so commonplace today. There are several mysteries ongoing and while you know some of the endings, there is more depth than expected. I did find too much wordiness with quite a few unnecessary details, which proper editing would have reduced the page length and corrected the possessive vs. plural usage and other errors. There is infrequent vulgar language, which I did not find necessary. 4*
The Girl in the Empty Dress #2 – This book begins a year after Blackbird ends. I like the way the blog told parts of the story without the wordy descriptions that are too much in these stories. There’s an increase in the vulgar language. Editing is needed for the misuse of words, for example: guano, the improper use of God and expressions with God, and the wordiness with unnecessary details. I was confused by the chauvinist label when a policeman told Merle to be careful with the kidnappers; that was not being a chauvinist, that was common sense. There is not much of a mystery, but the other storylines are still interesting, especially the relationship between Merle and Pascal. The regular characters are growing with each addition to the series and are still interesting. 3.5*
Give Him the Ooh-La-La #3 – This starts five months after Girl ends. I do not understand why someone is in love and yet distrusts or resorts to secrecy without good reason, instead of communicating their concerns to their beloved. Merle disappoints me with her avoidance and bad thoughts of Pascal, and the way she thought about the Christmas gift. She is definitely following the stupidity formula so common today; I am losing respect for her. There is not much of a mystery in this story. Needs the same type of editing as the previous books. 3*
The Things We Said Today #4 – This book starts six months after Give ends. The same as the last two, but this one is heavily against marriage – not modern, but the old traditional one of man is obeyed. Gee, the intolerance and prejudice by supposedly intelligent, older women who act so stupid about men and marriage. Merle does act better in this addition. There’s not much mystery but a lot of worries and doubts by many of the characters. This is mainly about the lives of the sisters. Pascal still shines in his role. Needs editing; has the modern trend usage of God, which reeks of intolerance and prejudice. 3*
Blame it on Paris #7 – I read the first four books because I had them a while in my library and volunteering to review Blame made me clean out my library of these books; I do not find them worth keeping, not even the first and I liked it. But I promised to review this book; the others were purchases I never made time to read. This book starts since one year after Things ends. The emphasis is on Francie and her woes; sexual harassment charges at work from a younger man, which allows her three weeks in Paris to help an American in prison facing drug charges.
With her involvement with the American there is finally an involved mystery, which the other books just attempted as a sideline. Unfortunately, the culprits were easy to figure out in both the harassment and the drug charges. Merle and Pascal are still a good part of the storylines, which I was happy to see them involved so much with Francie. Francie was not an interesting character for me, but M and P were my favorite characters throughout this series. I still have a problem with the lack of basic editing: God; proper names lowercased; etc. I found this book on Booksprout; the others are purchased. 3.5
Bennett Sisters French Cookbook #8 – This cookbook consists of basically 25 well known French recipes and depending on where you live some ingredients will be difficult to find. There are histories behind the recipes; the books in which they appear; and some excerpts from those stories.
Those already knowledgeable about the recipes and Bennett Sisters books will not find this book a good addition to the series or cookbook collection. Many of the recipes are better written from other sources; Julia Child is the go to for these recipes, but they are available everywhere. For those who are absolutely in love with this series and do not care that the author has her personal opinions infused in the recipes and/or may never try a recipe, this book is for you. Gee, you can boil potatoes in cold, salted water? Silly me, I always used fresh water brought to a boil; all that Swiss chef school training wasted on me. Be careful, there were mistakes. 4*
I read blackbird. Enjoyed it, but have not read the other one.
Story drug on with unsatisfactory conclusion.
Ho hum
Loved it!
About the relationships and life of the sisters Bennett, very good.
Very good..started out a bit slow, but it built nicely from there. Great setting. Good story, and realistic characters.
Loved the series
Fun, easy read.
I liked these characters.
Easy reading, I enjoyed the book –
Such a very good story and cast of characters, and very well-written. It makes me sad that I cannot recommend because of the inexplicable soft porn scenes that pop up seemingly out of nowhere. So unnecessary and quite a detraction from an otherwise good read.
Well written… Will read the next in the series… Great characters and plot…
Revenge gets people into trouble. This did go on a little to long but the story is good. People find out they can do a gret deal more than they thought. You do know who the bad guys are but not what they will do next.