The Closers - Michael Connelly

   2005; 447 pages.  Book 11 (out of 20) in the “Harry Bosch Novel” series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Police Procedural; Hard-boiled Crime Fiction; Murder Thriller.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    After three years of retirement, Harry Bosch is back in the Los Angeles Police Department! The chief of police has personally extended the offer to join up again.

 

    Most of the LAPD that were there when Harry retired now welcome him back, but a couple are a bit frosty to him.  One in particular is downright hostile about it.

 

    He’s not getting his old job back.  Instead, he’s been assigned to the Open-Unsolved Unit.  You and I would call it the “Cold Case Department”.  He and his partner, Detective Kizmin “Kiz” Rider, have already been given a case to reopen: an unsolved murder of a high school girl way back in 1988.  And, as one of LAPD's upper brass quips, “New hope for the dead.  Harry Bosch is on the case again.”

 

    The trouble is, Harry’s not sure whether that Captain was being sarcastic or not.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Closers combines two of my favorite crime genres: Police Procedurals and Cold Cases, and is the eleventh book in Michael Connelly’s 20-volume “Harry Bosch” series.  I’ve read a bunch of these books, starting way back before this blog existed.  I do recall the first one, The Concrete Blonde, and being blown away by it.  I’m not reading the series in order, and I don’t think I missing out on much.

 

    Harry’s “unretirement” is further complicated by him having to learn to work with a younger, female detective as an equal partner instead of an underling.  He also has to get caught up on the latest technological advances in things like DNA profiling, wiretaps (via something called ListenTech), and phone call tracing (via something called AutoTrack).  Harry grudgingly acquiesces to all that, but draws the line at using computers to write up reports.  He’ll stick with a good old typewriter, thank you.

 

    Harry, known in the past for his uncompromising brusqueness when dealing with authority figures, now also has to learn to be tactful.  Because this is a cold case, it means two other detectives originally worked the case and failed to come up with anything.  Harry now has to interview them and critique their performances, and hope he finds something they missed.  Good luck with trying to be diplomatic, Harry.

 

    I love this series because Michael Connelly is a master at crafting a complex, captivating mystery, filled with subtle clues, human drama, red herrings, plot twists, and well-developed characters.  There’s just enough thrills and spills to keep the pacing brisk, without the action becoming “over the top”.

 

    The ending is suitably exciting, and is keyed by Harry discovering a subtle clue in a photograph.  It’s a crucial bit of evidence, so tag along with Harry and Kiz as they methodically discover and apprehend the killer(s).  Trying to solve the case before they do will probably be a fruitless venture.  The final chapter gives one last surprising plot twist that will leave Harry and the reader with a heavy heart.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Jonesing (v.): having a fixation on (something).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.6/5 based on 22,565 ratings and 1,694 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.19/5 based on 60,485 ratings and 2,470 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “You know who we have to thank for this, don’t you?” Bosch asked.

    She looked at him quizzically.

    “I give up.”

    “Mel Gibson.”

    “What are you talking about?”

    “When did Lethal Weapon come out?  Right around this time, right?”

    “I guess.  But what are you talking about?  Those movies are so far-fetched.”

    “That’s my point.  That’s the movie that started all of this holding the gun sideways and with two hands, one over the other.  We got blood on this gun because the shooter was a Lethal Weapon fan.”  (pg. 35)

 

    “So if I was a defense lawyer,” Pratt continued, “I would have Mackey cop to the burglary because the statute of limitations has long expired.  He would say the gun bit him when he tried it out so he got rid of the damn thing — long before any murder.  He’d say, “No sir I didn’t kill that little girl with it and you can’t prove I did.  You can’t prove I ever laid eyes on her.”

    Rider and Bosch nodded.

    “So you got nothing.”

    They nodded again.

    “Not bad for a day’s work.   What do you want to do about it?”  (pg. 141)

 

“I think you could probably talk a zebra out of his white stripes if you had to.”  (pg. 272)

    There was a lot less profanity in The Closers than I expected: just 7 instances in the first 10% of the book, although five of those were f-bombs.

 

    As is the norm, the author uses lots of acronyms that us civilian readers need to remember.  Among them here are ESB (Evidence Storage Building), PDU (Public Disorder Unit), RHD (Robbery & Homicide Division), and IAD (Internal Affairs Department).  I remembered most of them, but kept forgetting what SID stood for.

 

    I can’t think of anything else to quibble about.  The Closers was a great read for me, with an awesome glimpse into what it’s like to be a big city detective.  I count Michael Connelly as one of my favorite Police Procedural authors; his books never disappoint me.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  The Closers is set in the present, which means 2005, the year it was published.  It was fun to see some long-departed entities in the text, most notably the Yellow Pages and Borders Bookstore.  Those were the days!

Bulldog - Mike Faricy

   2015; 231 pages.  Book 9 (out of 30) in the “Dev Haskell – Private Investigator” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Airport/Beach Read; Hard-Boiled Mystery; Private Investigator Mystery.  Overall Rating: 8*/10.

 

    Dermot Gallagher and Dev Haskell have been close friends for a long time.  Even after Dermot married Casey, and even after Dev started his Private Eye business.

 

    So it’s no surprise that the news of Dermot’s passing hits Dev like a ton of bricks.  Especially the circumstances of Dermot’s death.  According to the police, someone rang the doorbell of Dermot and Casey’s house, Dermot answered it, and was immediately shot in the face.  To say Dev is devastated is an understatement.

 

    The St. Paul police department's investigation is underway, and they have a request for Dev: stay out of this case and let us do our job.  We recognize your PI sleuthing is well-intended, but it will only slow things down.

 

    Yeah, we all know Dev’s not going to comply with that.

 

What’s To Like...

    Bulldog is the ninth book in the Dev Haskell series.  So far, I’ve been reading the series in order, sometimes via economy-priced bundles, sometimes as discrete e-books.  If you don’t happen to own the whole set of tales in this series, don’t fret.  Each of them is a completely standalone story.

 

    The storyline follows the usual formula for a hard-boiled mystery novel: fast pacing, lots of action, and lots of witty dialogue.  But Mike Faricy seems to be subtly tweaking his usual format.  For starters, Dev has no client; he is tackling this case strictly for his personal reasons.  Second, to me the plotline seemed to be more focused on the mystery, with less attention paid to Dev’s amorous interests.  And thirdly, the tone felt a bit darker here.  Personally, I thought these tweaks all worked rather well.

 

    A fascinating new character is introduced: Fat Freddy Zimmerman.  Dev’s first impression of him is given in an excerpt below.  At first I thought he was just another stereotypical “big, dumb, thug”, but he turns out to be an important character in the tale and I certainly hope Mike Faricy promotes him to being a recurring role.

 

    Louie the Lawyer is back, so is Lieutenant Aaron LaZelle of the St. Paul Police Department.  I like both those characters.  The widowed Casey Gallagher is new, and it was neat to watch the way her character gradually develops.  Tubby Gustafson makes for a suitably evil-but-crafty crime boss.  And Bulldog is everything you could want in a mob enforcer.

 

    The ending is exciting and over-the-top, which is mandatory for a hard-boiled crime mystery.  Dev figures out why someone shot Dermot, justice is served, and good triumphs over bad, with a couple of surprising benefits thrown in for good measure.  All the crime-mystery plot threads are tied up.  None of Dev’s romantic efforts are resolved, which is just fine.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.1/5 based on 1,823 ratings and 257 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.95/5 based on 772 ratings and 52 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    As I moved closer, the face came into focus, and I actually recognized the idiot.  The flattened nose, the Mohawk hairstyle, a half dozen piercings in each eyebrow, and the three rings in his bottom lip left little doubt.  Then, there was the gauging in his earlobes the size of a giant doughnut hole.  I didn’t so much know him as I knew of him.  Freddy Zimmerman, Fat Freddy, a wannabe criminal of dubious reputation.  I was pretty sure he was a general disappointment to folks on both sides of the law.  (loc. 282)

 

    “The license plates had been removed, to answer your next question, and no, a quick search of the immediate area did not turn them up.”

    “Did you search the river around there?  You know in the water, some idiot could have just tossed them in there.”

    “Right now, we’re dealing with a stolen car that was torched.  I’m not calling divers out to search the river bottom for a quarter of a mile in all directions to confirm what we already know.”

    “I was just thinking.”

    “Don’t, please don’t.  You are forbidden to think, which shouldn’t be too hard for you.  You are also forbidden to call me from here on in unless you have been murdered, in which case you wouldn’t be able to call anyway.”  (loc. 1731)

 

Kindle Details…

    Bulldog is priced at $4.99 at Amazon right now.  The rest of the books in the series are currently either $0.99 or $4.99.  Mike Faricy has several other series (Hotshot, Corridor Man, and Jack Dillon Dublin Tales) that have similar pricing structures.

 

As my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, I noticed the place had the definite reek of cheap perfume and dumb guys.  (loc. 619)

    The profanity in Bulldog felt like the usual amount, in this case there were 28 instances in roughly the first third of the book, and a nice mixture of mild and not-so-mild expletives.

 

    The story ends on page 231, which is at 57% Kindle.  The rest of the e-book included two sneak-peeks at other Mike Faricy opuses: 8 chapters from Double Trouble (the next book in this series), and 36 chapters from Corridor Man (the eponymous first book in another of his series).

 

    There were only a few typos (such as whacko/wacko), but lots of grammar errors, most of which involved apostrophes.  The editing seems to be gradually getting better, and I’m tempted to read one of the recent books in the series next to see if that trend continues.  The series is now up to Book #33, and yes, I know, that doesn’t add up to the number listed in the header of this review.

 

    Overall, I found Bulldog to be a fun and quick read; filled with plenty of thrills, spills, and intrigue; and with lots of interesting characters gallivanting around and uttering witty remarks.  I doubt it will win a Pulitzer Prize but it did keep me coming back for more (mis)-adventures by the incomparable Dev Haskell.  Which is exactly what I wanted.

 

    8 Stars.  One last thing.  Chapter 43 is devoted to an incident that we’ll simply call “Mouse in the Kitchen”.  We’ll not reveal any details, but let’s just say it brought back “been there, done that” memories for me.  Thank you, Mr. Faricy, for that little aside.

Burglars Can't Be Choosers - Lawrence Block

   1977; 294 pages.  Book 1 (out of 11) in the “Bernie Rhodenbarr” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Hard Boiled Mysteries; Crime-Humor.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

 

    Sooner or later, even the most careful burglar gets caught in the act.  Bernie Rhodenbarr is a case in point.

 

    The job seemed like an easy one.  Break into an apartment, rifle a desk, steal a blue box.  Someone’s willing to pay him $5,000 to do that.

 

    The guy who lives there, a patron of the arts, is guaranteed to be out that night, attending a show.  Still, Bernie is taking no chances; he rings the doorbell several times before picking the locks on the door.  There’s no answer, which confirms that no one is home, and Bernie is quickly inside and searching through the desk.

 

    That’s when several bad things happen.  First, two policemen come barging through the door, catch Bernie in the act, and read him his rights.  Second, one of the cops checks the back bedroom—something Bernie hadn’t bothered to do because no one answered the doorbell.

 

    It turns out there’s a corpse in there, with its head bashed in.

 

What’s To Like...

    Burglars Can’t Be Choosers is the opening book in Lawrence Block’s “Bernie Rhodenbarr” series featuring a lovable and adept burglar as the narrator and protagonist.  Despite this being his literary debut, Bernie is experienced in his vocation, well-known to some of the police, and has even served a jail sentence for getting caught once in the past.

 

    The story takes place in New York City, the author’s stomping grounds, and I really liked the Gotham “feel” to it.  As you might in a series where the burglar is the hero, the tone is lighthearted and humorous.  The title reference, at 20%, is one of Bernie’s wry views on life.

 

    Unsurprisingly, Bernie manages to avoid being thrown in jail and quickly begins his own investigation into the mystery.  Who is the unfortunate victim in the bedroom?  Why did someone kill him?  Who and why did somebody set Bernie up to take the rap for the murder?  Why  couldn't he find the blue box?

 

    Bernie’s efforts are hampered by the fact that he’s a wanted man and he can safely assume that the NYPD is watching his apartment.  On the flipside, his lockpicking skills allow him easy entry into just about any place he wants to look for clues.  And, as usual (this is my fifth Bernie book), a sultry female is worked into the storyline and gives him sleuthing assistance plus other added benefits.

 

    The ending is above-average.  The case is solved thanks to two key clues.  One clue is there for both Bernie and the reader to notice and later slap their foreheads for failing to recognize its importance.  The other clue Bernie keeps to himself and only reveals it during the accusation scene.  There are a couple of kewl plot twists, one of which occurs after the perp is identified and the case closed.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Momser (n.) : a contemptible person (Yiddish).

Others: Loid (v.); Bokhara (n.); Gama-Houche (n.; obs.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.2/5 based on 1,074 ratings. and 172 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.82/5 based on 7,173 ratings and 606 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    A funny thing.  The better your building, the higher your monthly rental, the more efficient your doorman, why, the easier it’s going to be to crack your apartment.  People who live in unattended walkups in Hell’s Kitchen will fasten half a dozen deadbolt locks to their doors and add a Segal police lock for insurance.  Tenement dwellers take it for granted that junkies will come to kick their doors in and strong-arm types will rip the cylinders out of their locks, so they make things as secure as they possibly can.  But if the building itself is set up as to intimidate your garden variety snatch-and-grab artist, then most tenants make do with the lock the landlord provides.  (pg. 4)

 

    “I’m relatively new at harboring fugitives but I’ll do my best to harbor you in the style to which you are accustomed.  Is it called harboring a fugitive if you do it in somebody else’s apartment?”

    “It’s called accessory after the fact to homicide,” I said.

    “That sounds serious.”

    “It ought to.”  (pg. 102)

 

Kindle Details…

    Burglars Can’t Be Choosers goes for $8.99 at Amazon right now.  Most of the other e-books in the series are that price as well, with two exceptions; one at $8.49 and one at $4.99.

 

“I thought you never lie.”  “I occasionally tell an expeditious untruth.”  (pg. 119)

    There’s a fair amount of cussing in Burglars Can’t Be Choosers.  I counted 23 instances in the first 20% of the book, most of which are of the “mild” variety.  Later on, at least one f-bomb shows up.  There are also a couple of rolls-in-the-hay, but those are tastefully done.

 

    The typos were few and far between.  Things like orbungling/or bungling and sub-liminal/subliminal.  I strongly suspect these cropped up in the “book-to-ebook” conversion stage.

 

    That’s about all I can gripe about.  Burglars Can’t Be Choosers is a well-written, enjoyable story where both the Mystery aspect and the Humor aspect shine.  I’m not reading this series in order, and I don’t think I’m losing anything because of that.  If you’re familiar with, and happen to like Donald Westlake’s “Dortmunder” series, you’ll love Bernie Rhodenbarr.

 

    8½ Stars.   One last thing.  At around 25% the Latin phrase “de mortuis” is used.  I’d never heard of it so had to look it up.  The full saying is “de mortuis nil nisi bonum”, which apparently is a famous phrase.  I took two years of Latin in school, and if you saw my grades in those classes, you’d realize why I couldn’t suss out the translation without Google’s help.

Crickett - Mike Faricy

   2013; 307 pages.  Book 8 (out of 31) in the “Dev Haskell – Private Investigator” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Airport/Beach Read; Hard-Boiled Mystery; Private Investigator Mystery.  Overall Rating: 7½*/10.

 

    What are the odds of your old flame, Karen Riley, walking through the door at the bar where you just happen to be enjoying a cold one, or two?

 

    Well, if you’re Dev Haskell, and the bar is The Spot, the odds aren’t all that long, since it’s a place you’ve been known to hang out1 at for quite some time.

 

    Karen’s changed her name; she now goes by Crickett.  That’s not all that’s new – she’s pushing a stroller with a 10-month-old baby in it.  Oliver.  Jeez, Dev, you don’t suppose the kid is yours, do you?

 

    She says it isn’t.  She’s not here to push a paternity suit on you, Dev.  She’s here to ask you, as a Private Investigator, to help get her current boyfriend, Oliver’s pop, out of jail.  Something about trumped-up drug charges.  Transporting cocaine.  You might as well investigate it, Dev.  What’s the worst that can happen?

 

    You're about to find out, Dev.

 

What’s To Like...

    Crickett is the eighth book in Mike Faricy’s Dev Haskell – Private Investigator series, which, thus far, I’ve been reading in chronological order.  This particular episode was part of a seven-volume e-book bundle which, ANAICT, is no longer available.  There are 46 chapters covering 248 pages, which means you’ll always be able to find a good place to stop for the night.

 

    The storyline is formulaic.  A knockout beauty comes to see Dev, and asks him to investigate something or someone.  Dev agrees, things get complicated, people have trouble remembering Dev’s name properly, Dev finds himself in a hopeless situation, and just when all seems lost, a plot twist appears out of nowhere, and all ends well.  That may sound trite, but it makes for a great airport/beach read.

 

    The story takes place mostly in and around St. Paul, Minnesota, with an occasional excursion to a nearby town called Vaxholm.  The complications in Dev’s sleuthing may be formulaic, but it’s still fun to try to get to the bottom of things alongside Dev.  There’s a reference to a Walter White that I didn’t get, but suspect it has to do with the TV show Breaking Bad, which I’ve never watched.  There’s also a “tumble bubble” scene, which looks like something I’d enjoy.

 

    The ending is good.  Yes, it’s a bit contrived, but that just allows Mike Faricy to work some mind-boggling plot twists into the tale.  Dev figured things out a bit before I did, and good triumphs, Dev survives, and Oliver ends up in good hands.  The Dev/Crickett plotline is not fully resolved, but based on the title of Book 9, Bulldog, I think it might carry over to there.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.3/5 based on 294 ratings and 83 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.00/5 based on 280 ratings and 30 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “My advice, for what it’s worth, just stay away from her, and Tubby, and anyone else involved.  Don’t take this on.  Don’t do anything for a fee, pro bono, or the benefits,” he said, arching an eyebrow.

    “How dumb do I look?”

    “You mean with the black eyes and that swollen nose?  Right now, pretty damn dumb.”

    “Okay, I get it.  I’m just going to alert her to the fact that Tubby’s looking around for names and tell her to keep quiet.  That’s all.  What could go wrong?”

    “Don’t even go there,” Louie said.  (loc. 826)

 

    “I just haven’t seen you, thought it might be fun to get together.  Look if you’re busy or seeing someone, I’m cool with that.  We’re both adults.  Sorry I bothered. . .”

    “I didn’t say you couldn’t come over.  It’s just that, well admit it, if you were me, you’d be suspicious, too.”

    “No, I wouldn’t.  If I were you, I’d be wondering what sort of bottle of wine kind, wonderful Dev could bring me.”

    “Stop it, possibly two bottles might work better,” she said.  (loc. 1163)

 

Kindle Details…

    Crickett presently sells for $4.99 at Amazon, which is the standard price for most of the books in this series.  Right now, Mike Faricy has graciously temporarily discounted four of the e-books; one of them goes for $0.99, the other three are free.  The author has several other series (Hotshot, Corridor Man, and Jack Dillon Dublin Tales) in addition to the Dev Haskell misadventures; the normal price for their individual e-books is also $4.99 apiece.

 

He attempted to smile, but his face was so unused to the exercise, it came off as more of a sneer.  (loc. 2727)

    Crickett has the usual amount of cussing for a Dev Haskell tale.  I counted 18 instances in the first 20%, which includes a couple of f-bombs.

 

    Typos abound, which is also the norm for this series.  Errant quotation marks run willy-nilly; so do separated compound words.  We have the standard typos, such as site/sight and your/you’re, as well as some unusual but amusing ones such as hob-knobs/hobnobs and highjack/hijack.  The thinkingm/thinking gaffe surprised me.  How did that ever make it past Autocorrect?

 

    The main baddie’s identity seemed a bit forced, but that’s allowed in a beach/airport read.  Ditto for the aforementioned formulaic storytelling.  If you like the formula, it’s not a drawback.

 

    7½ Stars.  Overall, Crickett was about what I’ve come to expect from a Dev Haskell – Private  Investigator installment.  Nothing deep, but a fun read from beginning to end.  Mike Faricy is a wizard when it comes to telling a catchy tale and coming up with self-deprecating remarks by the protagonist.  I’m intrigued as to whether there’s a tie-in to the next book, Bulldog, so it probably won’t be too long before I tackle that one.

A is for Alibi - Sue Grafton

   1982; 308 pages.  New Author? : No.  Book 1 (out of 25) in the “Kinsey Millhone” series.  Genres: Private Investigator Mystery; Hard-Boiled Mystery.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

 

    It promises to be a easy but strange case for PI Kinsey Millhone.  Nikki Fife wants her to investigate the killing of her late husband, Laurence Fife.  That sounds fairly routine, but there are a couple of weird aspects.

 

    First off, this is a cold case, since Laurence’s death occurred quite some time ago.  Nikki was accused and convicted of murdering him and has just been released from prison after serving eight years.  During her incarceration she never attempted to initiate an investigation.  So why start one now?

 

    Secondly, Laurence was killed in a most unusual way: he was poisoned via oleander, ground up into a powder, then slipped into one of the medication tablets he was taking.  Outside of his wife, who would have access to his medicines?

 

    Nonetheless, Nikki is willing to pay handsomely for Kinsey’s efforts.  And it turns out lots of people hated Laurence for lots of reasons, most of them involving infidelity.  So there are lots of suspects for Kinsey to look into.

 

    And since she’s already served her time, Nikki wouldn’t have reason to want further investigating, unless she actually innocent, amiright?

 

What’s To Like...

    A is for Alibi is the first book in Sue Grafton’s popular “Alphabet Series”, published over the course of 35 years, and closing with Y is for Yesterday.  Sadly, Ms. Grafton passed away before writing the “Z” installment.

 

    Despite it being a cold case, things quickly get complicated.  Kinsey discovers there was a second oleander-poisoning death back around the time of Laurence’s demise.  More chilling, and more timely, one of the present suspects is murdered right after Kinsey contacts her.  Someone is worried about the new probe.

 

    A is for Alibi was published in 1982 and it was fun to note some of the bygone things mentioned:  cameras needed a roll of film; a room at a cheap hotel only cost $11.95 per night; college students used “blue books” when taking exams; and dial phones could be slammed down to terminate a conversation.  I was happy to see one of my alma maters, Arizona State University, get mentioned, and smiled when it was revealed that one of the characters created crossword puzzles as a pastime. 

 

    A key break comes courtesy of a child's offhand remark.  I'm proud to say I picked up on that, but I couldn’t connect the dots.  Fortunately, Kinsey could, but even so, another plot twist jumped up and roiled the waters again.  Things wrap up with an obligatory chase scene; with the bad folks getting their deserved comeuppance and all the killings being solved.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.1*/5, based on 13,431 ratings and 1,563 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.86*/5, based on 184,374 ratings and 5,811 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    He was thirty-nine years old when he died.  That Nikki was accused, tried, and convicted was just a piece of bad luck.  Except for cases that clearly involve a homicidal maniac, the police like to believe murders are committed by those we know and love, and most of the time they’re right—a chilling thought when you sit down to dinner with a family of five.  All those potential killers passing their plates.  (pg. 8)

 

    Claremont is an oddity in that it resembles a trim little midwestern hamlet with elms and picket fences.  The annual Fourth of July parade is composed of kazoo bands, platoons of children on crepe-paper-decorated bikes, and a self-satirizing team of husbands dressed in Bermuda shorts, black socks, and business shoes doing close-order drills with power mowers.  Except for the smog, Claremont could even be considered “picturesque” with Mount Baldy forming a raw backdrop.  (pg. 162)

 

“The only cleavage I got left, I sit on.”  (pg. 31)

    The cussing is light: just 11 cases in the first 20% of the book.  One of those was an f-bomb though; and later on, there are a couple rolls-in-the-hay plus two instances of profane terms being used to describe sensual parts of the body.

 

    I had a couple quibbles, but they’re minor.  The ending, although suitably exciting, is rather conveniently resolved by Kinsey simply firing first.  And throughout the tale, the storyline goes off on a tangent of Kinsey working on a unrelated case.  I kept waiting for it to somehow tie into the main plot thread, but it never did.

 

    As a first effort, A is for Alibi is a promising tale, with enough action and intrigue to keep me turning the pages.  This was my second Kinsey Millhone book (the other one is reviewed here), and I get the sense that the author hones her writing skills nicely as the series progresses.  I have a bunch more of her works on my Kindle and TBR shelf, and look forward to more books in this series.

 

    7½ Stars.  An interesting sidelight, courtesy of the Wikipedia article for A is for Alibi.  Sue Grafton was going through a divorce while writing this book, and admits about her husband that she “would lie in bed at night thinking of ways to kill him.”   Oy.

Ting-A-Ling - Mike Faricy

   2013; 307 pages.  Book 7 (out of 32) in the “Dev Haskell – Private Investigator” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Airport/Beach Read; Hard-Boiled Mystery; Private Investigator Mystery.  Overall Rating: 6½*/10.

 

    Danielle Roxbury is interested in hiring Private Investigator Dev Haskell, whose cash flow is looking rather anemic lately.  True, the job she wants him to do doesn’t involve much actual investigating.  It seems she loaned fifty thousand dollars to some sleazeball named Renee Paris, and she’s having trouble getting him to pay her back.

 

    To his credit, Dev has told her she’d be better off hiring some junkyard dog attorney who could haul Paris’s butt into court.  But her case is woefully weak – she’s got nothing in writing to prove that she ever gave Paris a penny, let alone fifty grand.

 

    Nonetheless, she’d still like Dev to nose around a bit and see what he can find and/or do, to help “persuade” Paris to pay up.  And despite the dismal prospects, Dev is considering taking the job.

 

    Partly it’s because Danielle Roxbury is one sexy-looking lady.  But more importantly, she’s just peeled off ten one-hundred-dollar bills and handed them over to Dev as a retainer fee, and acts like it's pocket change for her.

 

What’s To Like...

    Ting-A-Ling is the seventh book in Mike Faricy’s Dev Haskell – Private Investigator series, which is up to 32 books now, the latest being Hit & Run, and which came out just a couple weeks ago.  It’s also the final installment in a 7-book bundle which I've used to read most of these books so far, and which seemingly isn’t available anymore at Amazon.

 

    There’s really only one plotline to follow: Dev’s efforts to get Renee Paris to pay back the money he owes Danielle.  But things get complicated by several key characters suddenly disappearing, as well as a case of vandalism-&-arson that the police are working on, and some embarrassing actions by Dev that were caught on a surveillance camera, much to his dismay.

 

    The books in this series are formulaic, and that’s not a criticism.  It means you’ll find the storytelling moves at a fast pace, there’s plenty of wit, sarcasm, and action, plus Dev spends a lot of time girl-watching, girl-wooing, and alcohol-consuming.  In short, this is an ideal beach read.

 

    I liked the character development in Ting-A-Ling.  Louie Laufen, who’s Dev’s attorney, pal, and office-mate, is becoming a more valuable asset with each book.  So is Heidi Bauer, one of Dev’s “friends with benefits”.  Even Dev’s strained relationship with Detective Norris Manning is beginning to thaw a bit; I think this is the first book in which Manning doesn’t try to arrest Dev for a crime.

 

    There are some great music references in the book, including nods to Bob Seger, Lady Gaga, Leonard Cohen, and Blondie.  Mike Faricy obviously has some good tastes in that regard.  The title is referenced several times, it’s just the sound of Dev’s phone ringing and it doesn’t play any major part of the story.  And for those keeping track, Dev wrecks one car (but it wasn’t his fault), has two rolls-in-the-hay, and frequents three places that serve booze, with “The Spot” being by far his favorite watering hole.

 

    The story is set in St. Paul, Minnesota in the dead of winter, and is told from the first-person point-of-view (Dev’s).  The chapters are short, with 57 of them covering just 285 pages.  Ting-A-Ling is both a standalone story and part of a series.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  3.9/5 based on 279 ratings and 224 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.71/5 based on 552 ratings and 35 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “Look, I gotta run.  I’ve got a luncheon meeting.  Hey, if you find my thong, it’s red, hang onto it for me.  I couldn’t find it, unless you did something typically stupid and crude, you perv.”

    “Actually, I think it’s down on West Seventh, right near to the stoplight at Grand Ave.”

    “What?”

    “Yeah, you said you felt imprisoned or something along those lines and you threw it out the window.  I can’t remember exactly.  It was just before your ‘impetuous love’ suggestion.”  (loc. 21513)

 

    “Didn’t they see you?”

    “That’s what I’m saying, they did see me.  They tried to run me down.  Tried to kill me.”

    “Kill you?  God, then you’re awfully damn lucky, Dev.”

    “Maybe.”

    “Any idea who?  Or why?  Was it someone’s husband?”

    “No to your first two questions, and I don’t think so to your third,” I said.  (loc. 23682)

 

Kindle Details…

    Ting-A-Ling is presently priced at $3.99 at Amazon, as are most of the other books in this series.  A couple of them are discounted to $0.99 for now, and you can get various subsets of these in 3-book bundles.  Mike Faricy has several other series (Hotshot, Corridor Man, and Jack Dillon Dublin Tales) in addition to the Dev Haskell misadventures.

 

“You’re sort of sweet, in your own warped little way.”  (loc. 22732)

    There are the usual nits to pick.  Ting-A-Ling has a moderate amount a cussing in the text, 16 instances in the first 20% of the story, which is one short of what the previous book had.

 

    And as always, typos abound, especially (but not limited to) abusing compound words such as newscast (“news cast”), hitman (“hit man”), footprints (“foot prints”), and even a childhood favorite of mine, Play-Doh (“Play Dough”).

 

    The most serious quibble, as pointed out by several Goodreads reviewers, is with the ending.  It includes an unbelievable escape from certain death by Dev, has some bad guys and good guys getting away, and the climactic confrontation leaves the reader the job of inferring what was going on in the whole debt-repayment plot thread.  After that, the book shuffles along for several more informational chapters tying up loose ends.

 

    6½ Stars.  The problematic ending notwithstanding, Ting-A-Ling is still a decent read if you’re looking for something witty, entertaining, and not very deep.  Just don’t make it your first Dev Haskell book.

Tutti Frutti - Mike Faricy

   2013; 329 pages.  Book 5 (out of 28) in the “Dev Haskell – Private Investigator” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Pulp Thriller; Hard-Boiled Mystery; Private Investigator Mystery.  Overall Rating: 8*/10.

 

    For Private Investigator Dev Haskell, the assignment is a dream job.

 

    First of all, his client is his attorney and drinking buddy, Louie Laufen.  It’s good to know the background of the person who’s hiring you.

 

    Even better is the job itself: just go down to a local nightclub called the Tutti Frutti, sip some suds, and see if you can detect some illegal gambling going on.  Even if you don’t notice anything amiss, you get to come back and collect your fee.  So down to the club goes Dev.

 

    He doesn't see any sign of gambling, but one thing quickly catches his eye.  Everyone at the club – customers and workers alike – seems to be slap-happy, using a spank on the butt in place of a handshake or a hug.  Dev finds that kind of weird, but hey, to each his own, and maybe they’re foreigners of some sort.  Such as Canadians.  Or Texans.

 

    Oh well, enjoy your drink, Dev.  If you think the butt-slapping is strange, wait till you see the floorshow.

 

What’s To Like...

    Tutti Frutti is Book 5 in Mike Faricy’s always-entertaining pulp thriller “Dev Haskell - Private Investigator” series and follows the usual formula: Dev’s “easy” job rapidly spins out of control, the women he hits on often have ulterior motives for tolerating his advances, crimes get committed, and somehow the police conclude Dev’s the most likely perpetrator.

 

    There's a plethora of plotlines.  In addition to the illegal gambling probe, Dev has murders to solve, mobsters to be wary of, flower deliveries of undetermined origin and motive to backtrack, and, most important of all, embarrassing photos of himself in compromising positions to explain, pics that he has no recollection posing for and which are now being spread around to the worst possible associates of Dev: his bedmates and the cops.  

 

    The story is set in St. Paul Minnesota and told from a first-person point-of-view.  The chapters are short, with 60 of them covering 329 pages.  I enjoyed tagging along with Dev as he muddles along, trying in vain to make sense of the mayhem, and although you can read this as a “whodunit”, I found it more fun to try to anticipate the steps Dev was taking to solve the mysteries and clear his name.

 

    Everything builds to a suitably exciting ending that included a couple of neat twists that I didn’t see coming, especially a clever evasive resource if you ever have to wear an ankle monitor as part of your plea deal agreement.  The final chapter was a neat little epilogue that I really enjoyed.

 

    Tutti Frutti is a standalone novel as well as part of a 28-book series.  I’m reading the books in order, but frankly, I don’t think that’s necessary.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  3.7/5 based on 440 ratings and 371 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.61/5 based on 758 ratings and 63 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    My phone rang.  It was Heidi’s number.  Probably calling to apologize now that she’d calmed down a bit.  I could understand her being upset, but I was glad she’d seen the light.

   “Hi, Heidi, are we feeling a little better, dear?”

    “Shut up you slimy piece of toilet scum.  I just want you to listen to this,” she screamed.  (loc. 16128)

 

    “And so your car got to her house how?”

    “I have no idea.  I have no memory of leaving her house.  The last thing I remember is her wearing a smile and a pair of these black knee high boots.  Kinda sexy,” I glanced at humorless Clara, but she remained focused on her notebook.  “Candi gave me a drink.  I don’t know what the drink was.  I just know that it burned when it went down.  I remember that.  Oh, and she got the stuff in Mexico.”

    “Tequila?”

    “I don’t know what it was.”

    “Are you in the habit of drinking drinks that you don’t know what they are?”

    “Sometimes.”  (loc. 17164)

 

Kindle Details…

    Tutti Frutti is priced at $3.99 at Amazon, as are all the other books in this series.  You can also pick up the entire series in various 5- or 7-book bundles, which are all priced at $9.99.  Mike Faricy also offers a couple novellas in the same setting for $0.99 apiece.    He has at least two other series: Jack Dillon Dublin Tales and Hotshot, neither of which I have tried yet; the books in those cost $2.99-$3.99.

 

“Hello, Biker?  Woof, woof, woof, grrrr.”  (loc. 14315)

    The usual quibbles about this series apply to Tutti Frutti as well.  The biggest problem is the abundance of typos.  I noted a couple dozen of them, almost all of them “spellchecker errors”.  Some of the ones that made me chuckle were: sexist/sexiest, phased/fazed, psyche/psych, and my favorite, statute-like/statue-like.  Compound words, such as shot gun/shotgun, after thought/afterthought, and here by/hereby also plagued the text.

 

    It turns out the Tutti Frutti Club is a “bondage-dom” establishment, and this seemed to offend some reviewers.  Others thought there was too much booze-drinking and "rolling-in-the-hay", but I disagree.  These are hard-boiled mysteries, not cozies, although if you’re looking for a Fifty Shades of Grey tale, you’re going to be very disappointed.  Admittedly, there is a fair amount of cussing (15 instances in the first 10%) and lots of spanking, but even the latter was almost (but not quite) always done as a greeting between clothed individuals.

 

    8 Stars.      I’m five books through this series, and have yet to be bored by any of them.  The pacing is brisk, and there’s plenty of action, wit, and in Dev’s case, self-deprecating humor.  The character development is great, and I was happy to see Louie playing a greater role here.  The plot structure may be formulaic, but so what?  I like Mike Faricy’s formula.