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.

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.

Revenge of the Spellmans - Lisa Lutz

   2009; 372 pages.  New Author? : No, but it’s been a while. Book 3 (out of 6) in the “The Spellmans” series.  Genres : Private Investigators; Humorous Crime Fiction; Dysfunctional Comedy.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    Most likely, it’s going to be an easy job.

 

    Ernie Black wants Isabel “Izzy” Spellman to tail his wife whenever she leaves the house.  He thinks she might be having an affair.  Izzy is happy to take the job.  She needs the money and in this case the hours per week she spends keeping track of Mrs. Black will be short and lucrative.

 

    That’s important because Izzy’s life is busy at the moment.  She’s recently parted company with her parents’ family-owned and -staffed Spellman Investigations, and is now moonlighting as a bartender at a local dive called The Philosopher’s Club.  She’s also attending court-mandated psychological counseling sessions due to her indiscretions in a recent operation.

 

      Fortunately, wife-tailing surveillance usually turns out to be many hours of sitting in a stake-out car, bored stiff, only to find out the husband’s suspicions are unfounded.  With a little luck, that’s how this one will turn.

 

    Unfortunately, Izzy’s luck hasn’t been all that good lately.

 

What’s To Like...

    Revenge of the Spellmans is the third book in Lisa Lutz’s (presumably) completed 6-volume series titled “The Spellmans”.  Technically, I’m reading these books in order, although there has been a ten-year gap between this one and the previous one.

 

    The book is written in the first-person POV, Izzy’s, and her hilarious, self-deprecating outlook on life is one of the big plusses for these tales.  The Spellman family is utterly dysfunctional; which is amplified by the fact that they all work in the same family business, including the youngest sibling, 16-year-old Rae, who despite earning mediocre grades in her classes, has just scored a phenomenal (PSAT) college board result.  Everyone is sure she cheated somehow, but no one can figure out how she did it.

 

    Izzy has her own woes.  The counseling sessions are going poorly, she has housing and employment issues, someone keeps moving her car, and her new PI job rapidly gets more complicated.  It all gets worse when a blackmailer contacts her.

 

    The text has a slew of witty footnotes that even Terry Pratchett would be proud of, which frequently reference an Appendix in the back of the book that contains all sorts of interesting information, including handy bios of all the main characters.  Due to my ten-year hiatus from this series, I read that whole section at the start; it was very helpful.

    I enjoyed the story’s setting: San Francisco, which is one of my favorite travel spots.  I especially liked Izzy’s forced visits to some local cultural sites, including SFMOMA, where the impressive artwork, “Erased de Kooning Drawing”, really is on display.  Yeah, google it.

 

    The ending is good.  All the mysteries and uncertainties in Izzy’s life are all cleared up, usually via some neat plot twist that neither Izzy nor I saw coming.  Izzy also finally figures out how Rae is achieving those high PSAT scores.  There’s a warmhearted Epilogue to close things out telling how several of Izzy’s acquaintances continue on with their lives.  Revenge of the Spellmans is part of a series, but it also does just fine as a standalone novel.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

    Shiksa (n.) : a gentile girl or woman  (Hebrew}.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.5/5 based on 659 ratings and 118 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.13/5 based on 17,890 ratings and 1,127 reviews.

 

Kindle Details…

    Revenge of the Spellmans currently sells for $10.99 at Amazon.  The other five books in the series are in the $4.99-$13.99 price range.  Lisa Lutz has a number of other standalone e-books, in both fiction and non-fiction genres.

 

Excerpts...

    I am a licensed private investigator who has been working for the family business, Spellman Investigations, since the age of twelve.  No, that is not a typo.  It sounds fun, I know.  But after decades of having your boyfriends investigated, your bedroom searched, your phones tapped, your vehicle tracked, and your every move documented, it gets old.  In my family, we don’t ask questions, we investigate.  (loc. 542)

 

    “I’m sorry, I’ll get out of here soon, I promise,” I said.

    “Don’t worry about it,” David said.

    “You’re being suspiciously nice,” I said.

    “I’m your brother.  I’m going to be nice on random occasions.”

    “Thanks.  But I’m trying to understand why this time you were so nice.”

    “Honestly, because you were so, so . . . pathetic.”

    “True,” I replied.

    “You need to take a shower,” David said.

    It had been three days.  I couldn’t argue with him.  (loc. 4247)

 

“Meditate on your own time!”  (loc. 4350)

    There’s very little to grouse about in Revenge of the Spellmans.  The profanity is sparse, just 5 instances in the first 25% of the book, and those were all of the “milder” variety.  To be fair, though, a couple of f-bombs do crop up later on.

 

    Things do not “build to an exciting climax” here.  But keep in mind this is a “Private Investigator” story, not a “Amateur Detective” one.  Such a case is successful if the client is happy with whatever information the investigator turns up without the police becoming involved.

 

    Revenge of the Spellmans was a complete reading treat for me.  I was fascinated by the various textual formats that Lisa Lutz utilizes, and the storyline moved at a sufficiently brisk pace that kept me turning the pages.  If you’re looking for a something to read akin to Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse or Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels, this series is right for you.

 

    9 Stars.  There were two neat acronyms worth mentioning: somebody throws an “ECOT party”, and a somebody has a “MILFO”.  Read the book to find out what they mean, and with regards to the latter one, it's not as dirty as you think.

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.

McNally's Dare - Vincent Lardo

   2003; 308 pages.  New Author? : No, and no.  Book 12 (out of 13) in the Archy McNally series.  Genres : Private Investigator Mysteries; Florida Noir.   Overall Rating: 6*/10.

 

    Talk about a party pooper!  Jeff Rodgers sure is one.

 

    He was working as a waiter at Malcolm MacNiff’s la-di-dah party held at the close of his fundraising “Tennis Everyone” tournament, and somehow managed to drown himself in the swimming pool while on break.   Hmmph.  He was probably high on booze or drugs or something.

 

    Archy McNally, our protagonist Private Investigator (he prefers the phrase “Discreet Inquirer”), was at the party too, having participated in the tennis tournament.  The pool that Jeff drowned in was somewhat out of the way, which is most likely why no one saw him when he fell in.  It’s very sad, but accidents like that happen occasionally.

 

    Except the Palm Beach Police have just announced Jeff Rodgers was murdered.  Archy has some sleuthing to do.

 

What’s To Like...

    McNally’s Dare is the twelfth, and penultimate book in this series.  The series' original author was Lawrence Sanders, who passed away after the seventh book.  Vincent Lardo accepted the opportunity to continue the series, and contributed another six stories, putting them out at more-or-less one each year.

 

    The story is told in the first-person POV, Archy’s, and the setting is the greater Palm Beach, Florida area.  Both of these are norms for the series.  Archy is the self-confident, somewhat spoiled junior partner of the law firm McNally & Son, Attorney-at-Law.  Father generally takes care of the legal aspects of the business; Archy takes care of the legwork.

 

    The death of Jeff Rodgers at the posh MacNiff estate is a social embarrassment to the Palm Beach upper crust, and no less than three different clients engage Archy’s services, all emphasizing him to be discreet.  The case quickly becomes more complex: there are rumors of blackmail, illegitimate heirs, and impostors putting on airs.  There are clues to decipher as we tag along with Archy, but also some red herrings to keep us on our toes.

 

    I liked the brief literary nod to Willy Loman, as well as a couple basic phrases I learned in French 101: “Touché” and “N’est ce pas?”.  The title reference comes on page 293, but it doesn’t really impact the storyline.

 

    Everything builds to decent, slightly twisty, but not very exciting ending.  Archy solves the Who, How, and Why of the crime and the baddies are proven guilty, which turned out to be the most challenging aspect of the investigation.  McNally’s Dare is both a standalone novel and part of a series.  I’m not reading the books in order, and I don’t think that matters.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.5*/5, based on 273 ratings and 84 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.86*/5, based on 1,205 ratings and 53 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “A lot of kings bit the dust in Aunt Margaret’s lifetime.  The medication had her indulging in a remembrance of things past, as some writers put it.”

    Proust, if my brief but memorable at old Eli served.  I recalled a classmate who had actually read Proust.  For penance he served four years, graduated summa cum laude, and made millions as a pioneer in waste disposal.  I read The Power of Positive Thinking and am now eking out a living counting toes.  Is there a lesson to be learned in this?  (pg. 235)

 

    I left Father tugging on his whiskers and retired to my penthouse digs where I undressed, washed, brushed and donned a silk kimono in white with a scarlet obi.  This was presented to me by a lady friend who was a Shintoist.  I was a convert for the duration of our relationship, which was conducted on a mat.  She left me for a karate instructor who came with his own mat, and I was left holding the kimono.  (pg. 244)

 

How I longed for a refreshing cup of hemlock.  (pg. 132)

    There’s very little cussing in McNally’s Dare.  I counted just five instances in the first third of the book, and they were all just variations of the mild expletives: “hell” and “damn”.  The book opens with Archy going undercover (literally) at a massage parlor, but there’s nothing lewd about the ensuing sting.  Joint-smoking and amphetamines get a brief mention later on, but drug usage never figures into the storyline.

 

    My big issue with McNally’s Dare is the crime investigation.  We eschew spoilers in these reviews, so let’s just say Archy, and others, including myself, all latched onto a prime suspect pretty quickly, and nothing much along the way dissuaded any of us from our hunch. I like my murder mysteries to throw surprises at me and this book didn’t do that.

 

    6 Stars.  This was my third Archy McNally book, the other two are reviewed here and here, and were penned, one each, by Lawrence Sanders and Vincent Lardo.  McNally’s Dare was definitely the least impressive of the three, but maybe by this book Lardo was running out of good and innovative ideas for a murder-mystery.  Or maybe I’ve just outgrown the series.