Double Trouble - Mike Faricy

   2015; 231 pages.  Book 10 (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: 7½*/10.

 

    Business has been slow at Haskell Investigations.  Its owner and sole employee, Private Investigator Dev Haskell, has now been forced to take a second job: moonlighting as a collections agent for a Coffin Manufacturing Company whose customers sometimes default payments on what is going to be their final resting place.

 

    It only takes Dev one day to realize he’s not really cut out to persuade senior citizens to square away those debts for their death boxes.  But he likes the company owner, so on his way out, he recommends an old acquaintance who has experience in debt-collecting: Tommy Flaherty.

 

    Tommy is a “reformed criminal”, which is a nice way of saying he’s an ex-con.  He also has two sisters, Candi and Lissa, both of which Dev has slept with in the past.  During the same time period.  Until he mistakenly called out the wrong sister’s name at the height of passion.  But that was a while back, and it’s all water under the bridge, right?

 

    Oh jeez, Dev.  You still don’t know a thing about how the female mind works, do you?

 

What’s To Like...

    Double Trouble is the tenth book in Mike Faricy’s “Dev Haskell Private Investigator” series, which I’ve been reading in order so far.  It’s action-packed and a quick read.  Amazon says it’s 279 pages long, but it actually ends on page 227, with a bonus preview of the first eight chapters in the next book in the series, Yellow Ribbon, tacked on.  The tale is told in the first-person POV (Dev’s) and 57 chapters cover those 227 pages, so you’re never far from a good place to stop for the night.

 

    As is the norm in these tales, what starts out as an easy job—see the first excerpt, below—rapidly becomes more complicated.  Various items begin to disappear, such as coffins, ATMs (the whole machine, not just the cash), and some of Dev’s junk food supplies and t-shirts.  The police think someone even stole the license plate from Dev’s vehicle, but hey, it’s still there.

 

    It may be my imagination, but Dev seems to slowly be getting his act together.  He seems to spend a bit less time womanizing here (thank goodness Heidi is still around), and it appears he’s sharpening his Private Eye skills as well.  Even his bar-hopping seems to be curtailed a bit.

 

    Things build to decent, fitting, ending with a clever perp-revealing plot twist that I didn’t see coming, and with the baddies all getting their just desserts.  The final chapter is an epilogue, and adds one last comedic twist to the ending, which is appropriate for a Dev Haskell tale.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.3/5 based on 312 ratings and 72 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.14/5 based on 297 ratings and 20 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “So, are you going to take the job?” Louie asked.

    “Sounds like I would be getting paid just to follow people around and see if anyone is into anything crazy.”

    “Sounds like a waste of time,” Louie said and sipped.

    “Probably, but now I’d be getting paid for wasting it.”

    “There you go, always looking at the bright side.”  (loc. 652)

 

    I called Leo, my locksmith, and told him I needed new front and backdoor locks.

    “Again?  Dev, didn’t we just replace those things about six months ago?”

    “Was it that long ago?”

    “You know, if you stopped handing out house keys to every woman who let you buy her a drink, you could maybe cut down on this.  I ought to put you on a monthly plan and just change the damn things every thirty days.”

    “You have a monthly plan?”

    “I was kidding, Dev.”  (loc. 1537)

 

Kindle Details…

    Double Trouble is currently priced at $4.99 at Amazon.  The rest of the books in the series are currently either $0.99 or $4.99.  Mike Faricy offers at least one e-book bundle of this series, and has several other series (Hotshot, Corridor Man, and Jack Dillon Dublin Tales) that have the same pricing structure.

 

“Want to come in for a glass of wine and stay for breakfast?”  (loc. 348)

    The profanity in Double Trouble is moderate; with 18 instances of a variety of "milder" cusswords in the first 20%.  There were zero f-bombs, which impressed me, although one showed up in the Yellow Ribbon preview.  Some “adult situations” were alluded to, but there was nothing lurid.  The tagline for this section is a good example.

 

    The typos are getting scarcer as this series progresses, but I still spotted about ten or so, including id/ID, discrete/discreet, Bout/’Bout, and skulls/sculls.  That last one made me chuckle.

 

    But enough of the quibbling.  Double Trouble is a fast-paced crime-mystery, chock full of humor and wit, over-the-top thrills-&-spills, and all-too-convenient timing of events.  Which means it’s an ideal book when you just want to be entertained and not have to cogitate too much.

 

    7½ Stars.  One last thing.  Late in the story, one of the characters is described as having an “egghead degree in chemistry”.  I happen to have a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Chemistry.  That description resonated with me.

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.

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.

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.

Last Shot - Mike Faricy

   2013; 307 pages.  Book 6 (out of 31) in the “Dev Haskell – Private Investigator” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Beach Read; Murder-Mystery; Private Investigator Mystery.  Overall Rating: 8*/10.

 

    It was the best of decisions; it was the worst of decisions.

 

    Private Investigator Dev Haskell isn’t overworked right now – in fact he’s working on zero cases – yet when Desi, a gorgeous ex-con comes to him with an offer of work (and with money to pay him!), he turns her down.  Bad decision, Dev.

 

    Desi served time for a bank robbery, but she claims she took the fall for a powerful big-shot named Gaston Driscoll.  Now she’s served her time, but thinks she’s being followed, and the Gaston’s out to silence her.  Permanently.  She wants Dev to investigate Driscoll, but he's turned her down reasoning that if push came to shove between him and Gaston, he’d be on the receiving end of all the pushing and shoving.  Good decision, Dev.

 

    Desi was of course disappointed but understood Dev’s reluctance.  Her parting words to Dev as she left his office were, “There’s really no one else I can ask.  You were sort of my last shot.”

 

    And when she's found dead a short time later, Dev finds himself involved up to his ears in the case, whether he likes it or not.

 

What’s To Like...

    Last Shot is the sixth book in Mike Faricy’s Dev Haskell series, which I’m reading in order although you don’t really have to.  As usual, Dev quickly finds himself in over his head, with the St. Paul, Minnesota police department wavering between treating him as a suspect or treating him as a nuisance.

 

    As usual, the storyline is filled with lots of sexy girls, some of which may be the death of Dev.  A couple are dancers at a local strip club where Desi was a bartender, one owns a carwash, another works in the Police Records Department (and is a handy resource for Dev), still another used to be employed by an architectural firm financed by Gaston Driscoll.  Dev dutifully makes his PI rounds, turning up all sorts of questions but not very many answers.

 

    The tale is told from the first-person POV, Dev’s, which is the norm for this series.  I hesitate to call this a whodunit, as the perpetrator is pretty evident from the start.  Instead, the challenge for Dev is to figure out a way to bring down the evildoer, which is no small feat, as Mr. Bad Guy's reputation as a benevolent philanthropist is spotless.  Most of the story takes place in St. Paul, but we do make one quick trip overseas, which is a rarity for this series.

 

    The action is fast-paced, the dialogue is witty (a Mike Faricy forte), and there are no slow spots.  I liked the name of the architecture company: “Touchier and Touchier”, and chuckled at the mention of a Yellow Pages phone book.  I laughed when Dev got engulfed by a huge pile of toxic chemical fertilizer; my career was with a chemical fertilizer company.  My favorite character is once again here: Louie Laufen, who serves as both attorney and office roommate for Dev, and although he doesn’t figure much into the main plotline, he can always be counted on for snarky-yet-sage advice.

 

    The ending is over-the-top, and includes a huge WTF: a chance meeting of two important characters, that strained my suspension-of-disbelief.  However, since it tidily ties up the main plotline, I’ll let it slide.  Last Shot is a standalone novel as well as part of a 31-book series.  You can also get it as part of a 7-book bundle (books 1-7) that Mike Faricy at times offers at a significantly discounted price.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.2/5 based on 420 ratings and 338 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.88/5 based on 745 ratings and 61 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “What are you supposed to be meeting about?”

    “I just said I was considering making a career change and a friend mentioned him as a top man in his field, someone I should talk to.”

    “And that got you an appointment with him the next day?”

    “He said he could only give me ten minutes.”

    “Ten minutes?  You’ll have to wear a raincoat with nothing on underneath.”

    “That’s what I was planning to wear for the second meeting.”  (loc. 19100)

 

    I nodded at “Your next, asshole” message spray painted in large red letters across the wall.

    Oscar sighed again, then said, “You notice they spelled that wrong?  Should be you’re, you know, with an apostrophe and then the letters r and e.  Might just be a clue.”

    “I don’t think these were the kind of people who worry a lot about grammar and punctuation.”  (loc. 20430)

 

Kindle Details…

    Last Shot is presently priced at $3.99 at Amazon, as are most of the other books in this series.  A couple are priced at $3.94 and $3.96 right now, and Book One, Russian Roulette, has an introductory price of just $0.99.  You can also get good deals on 3-, 4-, and 7-book bundles of various books in the series.  Mike Faricy has several other series (Hotshot, Corridor Man, and Jack Dillon Dublin Tales) to supplement Dev Haskell’s misadventures.

 

Sometimes my best ideas are beverage fueled.  (loc. 20506)

    The usual quibbles apply to Last Shot, the main one, as always, being the horrendous amount of typos.  Things like: accept/except, Driscoll’s/Driscolls, clip board/clipboard, bitties/biddies, ex’s/exes, wheel chair/wheelchair, and one of my personal peeves, lightening/lightning.  There were many more.

 

    There’s only a moderate amount a cussing in the text, 17 instances in the first 20% of the story.  That’s about par for a Dev Haskell tale, at least starting with Book 4.  The black-hats and white-hats are easy to tell apart, but that allows Mike Faricy to focus on penning an action-packed story instead of slowing things down to attend to things like character-development.

 

    Overall, Last Shot gave me exactly what I was looking for – a light, easy, thoroughly entertaining read.  I've added the genre “Beach Read” to the opening details, as this series would be perfect for such an occasion, or when you're stuck in an airport.

 

    8 Stars.  Some reviewers have griped about a perceived “excessive amount” of sex and booze that Dev partakes of in these books.  I respectfully disagree, but hey, let’s track a couple metrics for Dev starting with Last Shot.  Drinking Establishments visited: 5 (Nasty’s, The Spot, St. Paul’s Grill, Fabulous Ferns, Glass Slipper).  Rolls-in-the-Hay: 2 (we won’t name names).  Cars Wrecked: 1 (with a nod to Stephanie Plum).  Hopefully I'll remember to track these when I read the next book, Ting-a-Ling.

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.

Bombshell - Mike Faricy

    2012; 258 pages.  Book 4 (out of 29) in the “Dev Haskell – Private Investigator” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Pulp Thriller; Hard-Boiled Mystery; Private Investigator Mystery.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

 

    Somebody has been giving Harlotte Davidson, crowd favorite on the English women’s roller derby team, the Hastings Hustlers, the finger.  As in the middle finger.  Middle fingers, actually.  Four of them so far.  Severed human fingers.  Creepy.

 

    The Hastings Hustlers are currently on a US tour, and everyone’s on edge since those fingers were delivered, one apiece, at the last four stops along the way.  Their next match is against the Bombshells, the local roller derby team in Private Investigator Dev Haskell’s hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota.  Dev’s really excited about the Bombshells.

 

    Mostly he’s excited about one of the Bombshells, Justine, aka “Spankie”.  When she mentions that the Hustlers might be interested in some extra security for the St. Paul bout, Dev has an opportunity to mix business with pleasure, and maybe even catch the wacko with the middle finger fetish.

 

    Just where in the world does one go to procure a bunch of middle fingers?  I don’t think Amazon sells them.

 

What’s To Like...

    Bombshell is the fourth installment in Mike Faricy’s signature “Dev Haskell – Private Investigator” series, which is now up to 29 books.  I’m reading them in order, mostly because I have the bundled version of the first seven books.

 

    There’s really only one main storyline: what’s with the fingers, although that branches off into a.) who’s doing it, b.) where’s he getting the fingers from (there are no corpses popping up with missing middle fingers), and c.) what kind of sicko message is the perpetrator trying to convey?

 

    The story is told in the first-person POV, which I’m pretty sure is true for the entire series.  The chapters are short: 51 of them, averaging about 5 pages apiece.  There’s lots of action, and the pacing is rapid.  My favorite side character, Louie Laufen (Dev’s lawyer) gets plenty of ink here, and I get the impression he’s going to show up a lot more in the series, since Dev makes a habit of running afoul of the St. Paul Police Department.  I liked how the relationship between Dev and Detective Manning is developing.  Neither one likes the other, but they’re gradually learning to grudgingly respect each one’s abilities.

 

    Full disclosure: there’s not a lot of roller derby action involved and there seemed to be less attention than usual devoted to Dev’s romantic pursuits.  He still scores several times, but strikes out a lot as well.  There are a bunch neat musical references, with special praise given to Lionel Richie (positive) and Leonard Cohen (negative).  But Ozzy’s last name of misspelled (it’s “Osbourne”, not “Osborn”) which is absolutely unforgiveable.  I’m proud to say I guessed the identity of the perp very early on, even though this isn’t really a whodunit.

 

    The ending is contrived, over-the-top, and eminently entertaining.  Several WTF’s are employed, which will not be detailed since they’d be spoilers.  The main plot thread is resolved with six chapters still to go, but there was a “hidden” plotline lurking in the tale, which gets resolved after the finger-sender has been apprehended.  The book closes with a LOL exchange between Dev and Detective Manning.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.0/5 based on 345 ratings.

    Goodreads: 3.69/5 based on 798 ratings and 75 reviews

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Gobshite (n.) : a stupid and incompetent person (Irish slang).

Others: Tosser (n., British slang); Plonker (n., also British slang)

 

Excerpts...

    In the past thirty minutes I’d been joined by Louie Laufen, my lawyer.  I was still handcuffed, although the cuffs were no longer behind my back.

    “Oh, God,” Louie half burped, then screwed the top back onto a blue plastic Maalox bottle.  “I don’t know what I ate last night.”

    “A bottle of Jim Beam from the smell of that burp,” I said.  (loc. 12216)

 

    “Look, to be honest I tried to get tickets to Lionel, but they were sold out,” I lied.

    “Oh, really?”

    “Yeah, honest,” I said, then leaned back and contentedly sipped my beer, feeling I was in safe territory.

    “So, the fact that you’re involved in this roller derby murder, and working with the police, that doesn’t have a damn thing to do with us being here.  Is that right?”

    I sat forward and choked on a mouthful of beer.  If I felt around, I’d probably detect the thin ice I was suddenly on.  (loc. 13448)

 

Kindle Details…

    Bombshell is priced at $3.99 at Amazon right now, as are all the other books in this series, with the exception of Book 28, The Big Gamble, which is discounted to $2.99.  You can also buy the first seven books bundled together for $9.99, which is quite the savings.  Mike Faricy has several other series for your Kindle, and most if not all of those books go for either $2.99 or $3.99.

 

“How the hell could someone have access to a steady supply of fingers?”  (loc. 12017)

    Most of the nitpicking has already been noted: the WTF’s in the ending, the mangling of Sir Ozzy’s last name, and the rolls-in-the-hay, a staple of this series, and which seem to offend some readers.  The cussing is not excessive – I counted only 13 cases in the first 20% of the book – and the one use of the epithet “douche bag” made me chuckle.

 

    The main problem, as several Goodreads reviewers also noted, is the abundance of typos and grammar misusage.  “Osborn/Osbourne” is just the tip of the iceberg.  Commas are abused, as are apostrophes, and compound words such as raincoat, hairbrush, handcuffed, and fundraising, are habitually separated into two words.  Some of the more humorous slipups were snuggly/snugly, pricy/pricey, and complacency/complicity.

 

    There’s no arguing that these grammar gaffes distract, but I think awarding a one-star rating because of them, as some Goodreads reviewers did,  is excessive.  I recognize that most indie authors double as their own editors, which is inherently ineffective, but getting a couple of volunteers to proofread the manuscript should be cheap (a free copy of the book) and easy (just read it and record any errors).

 

    7 Stars.  Please keep in mind that the focus in these Dev Haskell books is on Dev's humor-filled and action-packed misadventures, both as a PI and a ladies’ man.  As such, it does not include a clever and tightly-constructed mystery.  To steal a quote from another reviewer, “check your brain at the door, and enjoy the ride”.  I did.