ARA Review by Deborah Russo 1 of The Czech Book: a Rainee Allen mystery

[Deborah Russo 1]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, The Czech Book: a Rainee Allen mystery.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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The wedding of title character Rainee Allen’s best friend, Shelley, is halted by a mysterious explosion at the very beginning of the briskly paced book The Czech Book: A Rainee Allen Mystery by Lauren B Grossman and Bernie Jaroslow.


There is much to enjoy about this book. I very much liked that the date is stated clearly at the beginning. The story begins with a wedding scene. The destination wedding was to take place in the groom’s home country of the Czech Republic although the happy couple planned to live in the US. The mystery gets started right away with mysterious codes and explosions. Lots of good mystery elements doom the nuptials on the first page of the book but the atmosphere of the wedding is preserved in a flashback. Here I realize this is an older bride, as is the main character, Rainee Allen, who at 58 has a 12 year old daughter. Relationships between the two main couples, Rainee and Martin, Shelley and Josef are quickly established. A wedding fancier, I appreciated the detailed design of the bride and her attendant’s dresses.


None of the characters are treated as throwaway characters. Characterization was introduced expertly and continued as long as needed. This was another positive perk. Very clear writing, no question as to what is happening, bit heavy on the soap opera, but apparently this is what it is all about. About a third of the way through it does seem the mystery plot gives up who did it and the book becomes an adventurous what-will-happen plot. But it did make me want to keep reading and find out what’s actually going on. For all the reasons detailed above I am giving the book a 4 out of 5 over a lower score.


One aspect of the book that made me wince, however, was how the good guy characters are a bit soppy in professing their devotion to one another. While the outcomes of the tests of these devotions are not always predictable, there still is remarkably little angst, lots of sentiment, and foreshadowing of prompt recoveries. Altogether I found myself enjoying the characterizations of the bad guys more. I suspect that was not the intent. For those reasons I am giving the book a 4 instead of 5.

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