I think there are several writers who read this. The ones I know about and have read are not guilty.

This afternoon I was reading what I figured would be a "cute" little mystery with a coffee house setting. "Cute" it is, but so far the mystery part is okay.

What got to me though was a "her and I" sentence, such as "they gave a gift to her and I." Okay, what's wrong with that? Would you say "gave to us" or "gave to "we?" Her and I DO NOT MATCH grammatically.

I gritted my teeth and hoped it was one of those things that had slipped by the author and the editors. But it wasn't--so far I have run across this particular egregious grammatical error three more times. And it is having a negative effect on my interest in finishing the book. It has already had a totally negative effect on any plans I might have had to buy any other books by this author, and there are at least four others in the Coffeehouse Mystery series.

I'm not exactly impressed by the standards of the publisher--Berkley Prime Crime, New York--either.

I can understand somewhat the problems some of my students have in differentiating between except and accept, night and knight, rain and reign, led and lead (the metal), etc. They truly do sound alike, and if one hasn't read tons and tons, it's likely that the visual difference has not sunk into the subconscious. Moreover, spellcheck doesn't care which way you spell it.

But in a printed work? Not only should the spelling be correct, but the grammar should be free of most of the more egregious errors, unless poor grammar is part of a character's identity.

Rant over. And you can bet I'll proof this at least three times!