McNally's Luck - Lawrence Sanders

    1992; 323 pages.  New Author? : No.  Book 2 (out of 13) in the Archy McNally series.  Genres : Crime Humor; Private Investigator Mysteries; Florida Noir.   Overall Rating: 9*/10.

 

    Archy McNally sure has been busy lately.

 

    First there was the catnapping of Peaches, an irascible feline with whom Archy doesn’t get along.  But its owners are clients of the McNally family investigation agency, so Pater McNally, has assigned Archy to look into Peach’s plight.

 

    Now there’s been a murder of a client, and Pops has instructed Archy to also work on that case.  These back-to-back investigations are cutting into Archy’s eating, drinking, and socializing time at the Pelican Club.

 

    If only there was some way to combine the two investigations into a single case.  Dream on, Archy.

 

What’s To Like...

    McNally’s Luck is a pleasant blend of crime-mystery, wit, and social commentary.  Archy is the pampered, dutiful son in in well-to-do family where mom, dad, and junior all do their share to make their investigative business a profitable enterprise.  Archy also coordinates his efforts with his friend, Sergeant Al Rogoff, of the Palm Beach Police Department, who’s gritty demeanor contrasts nicely with our hero’s suaveness.

 

    The crime-mystery aspect of the storyline impressed me.  The catnapping plot thread could have easily become absurd, but it doesn’t.  How do you even go about investigating a catnapping, since the victim can’t communicate with you?  Trying to solve the murders (there’s more than one) is equally perplexing.  Archy makes lots of inquiries, with very few results to show for it.

 

    There is also a mystical plot thread, and those always fascinate me.  As part of his sleuthing, Archy attends his first séance, and comes away with mixed thoughts about communicating with the dead to get some answers about the slayings.  I was impressed by how deftly Lawrence Sanders handles this.

 

    The story is told in the first-person POV; and was a vocabularian delight.  Archy never uses a plebian word when there’s a highfalutin alternative.  Lawrence Sanders also sprinkles in a few Spanish, French, and Latin phrases, plus a whole bunch of Yiddish ones.  I loved that.

 

    Everything builds to a climax in the form of a meeting of the various investigators.  Combined brainpower carries the day, although only after overcoming several slick plot twists.  The tale closes with an Epilogue wherein Archy gives his thoughts about seances.  Presumably it echoes Lawrence Sanders personal ideas on the subject, and was heartwarmingly done.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Zoftig (adj.) : having a full, rounded or curvaceous figure

Others: Tsores (n.), Pourboire (n.), Logy (adj.), Matutinal (adj.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.3*/5, based on 1,129 ratings and 95 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.96*/5, based on 3,198 ratings and 160  reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “A strong woman,” I opined.  “Domineering.”

    “Do you really think so?” he said.  “That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it?  Dominant perhaps, but not domineering.”

    “You poets,” I said, smiling.  “You make a nice distinction between adjectives.”

    “I hate adjectives,” he said.  “And adverbs.  They’re so weak and floppy.  Don’t you agree?”

    “Indubitably,” I said, and we both laughed.  (pg. 197)

 

    “Do you believe in ghosts?”  (. . .)

    “Oh my, yes,” she said airily.  “I have never seen them myself, but I have been told by people whose opinion I respect that spirits do exist.  Mercedes Blair’s husband died last year, you know, and she says that ever since he passed, their house has been haunted by his ghost.  She knows because she always finds the toilet seat up.  No matter how many times she puts the cover down, she always finds the seat up when she returns.  She says it must be her dead husband’s spirit.”  (pg. 254)

 

Kindle Details…

    McNally’s Luck currently is priced at $7.99 at Amazon.  The rest of the books in the series range in cost from $6.99 to $9.99.  The first nine books in the series are also available in a trio of 3-book bundles for either $14.99 or $16.99.

 

I had no wish to meet my Maker in the parking lot of a store that sold Twinkies and diet root beer.  (pg. 287)

    The cussing in McNally’s Luck is sparse, which is normal for this series.  I counted just four instances in the first half of the book.  A couple of rolls-in-the-hay are hinted at, but there was nothing lewd.

 

    I can’t think of anything to nitpick about.  Archy’s sleuthing efforts kept me turning the pages, and the witty writing style meant there were no slow spots.  The “Is the Supernatural real of fake?” issue was handled deftly, which is no easy feat.

 

    All the plot threads get tied up except for one: Archy’s goal was to lose 5 pounds, and I don’t recall him ever revealing whether he succeeded in that endeavor.  Based on the eating and drinking episodes he describes, I’m thinking he didn’t.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  At one point (81% Kindle), Archy gives an aside, wherein he shares what he calls “McNally’s First Law of Shopping”.  It is a sage maxim, and we’ll divulge it in the comments.

Yellow Ribbon - Mike Faricy

    2015; 207 pages.  Book 11 (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: 5*/10.

 

    Being a Private Investigator is a high-tension job.  Just ask Dev Haskell.  Sometimes you just gotta do something low-stress.  Like baby-sitting.  Which is what he’s doing now.

 

    He’s thoroughly enjoying looking after little 4-year-old Ava and 5-year-old Emma (or is it the other way around?), daughters of a friend of his, Isabella.  Dev’s even doing this for gratis.

 

    It’s a pity the doorbell had to ring.  It’s a pity that Isabella’s ex-boyfriend, Carlos, is doing the ringing, and is in a foul mood.  It’s a pity that . . . well, what happened next is a bit unclear.

 

    All Dev knows is he got beaten unconscious in front of the two girls.  And got punched often enough in the face for everyone who sees him for quite some time is going to remark that he “looks like sh*t”.

 

What’s To Like...

    Yellow Ribbon is the Book Eleven in Mike Faricy’s Dev Haskell - Private Investigator series.  Thus far, I’ve been reading them in order.  The tale is told in the first-person Point of View, Dev’s, and the setting is the greater St. Paul, Minnesota area.

 

    The action starts right away; the above introduction recaps the first chapter.  My favorite character, Louie the Lawyer, sits this one out, but the two baddies, Fat Freddy Zimmerman and Tubby Gustafson, get larger-than-normal roles.

 

   The tone of the text is darker than usual.  Normally Dev is up to his ears in chasing hot chicks and making snarky wisecracks.  Here, his main feminine companionship is two very scared little girls and the sassing is scaled back significantly.

 

    The main storyline is Dev’s efforts to solve two challenges: rescue Emma and Ava, and recover some stolen money (see second excerpt, below).  The ending addresses both of those tasks, albeit in a not very exciting way and via some very convenient timing.  Things close with a very heartwarming Epilogue.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.1/5 based on 868 ratings and 170 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.89/5 based on 612 ratings and 51 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    For the first time, I realized Rikki was wearing a red-sequined thong and a frown.  She had what looked like hummingbirds in flight tattooed on either hip.  A blue stone pierced her navel which was surrounded by tattooed flower petals.  Deep ponds of mascara added a good twenty years to her face.

    She seemed oblivious to her almost complete lack of clothing, and she struck a defiant pose by placing her hands on her hips and thrusting her chest out.  Either that or she was showing off an estimated three grand worth of breast enhancement work.  She stared at me without blinking.  (pg. 93)

 

    “They banned me from the roulette wheel and then the blackjack tables.  So much for nice customer service.

    “Anyway, I just wanted another drink, and this chick was doing nothing but b*tching, so I figured, screw this, and I just left.  Who’d hang around for more of that?  I sure as h*ll don’t need that kind of sh*t.  On the way out, I stopped by the cashiers’ window, and they were doing a shift change or something, not paying too much attention, and so I just helped myself.”

   “You mean, you robbed them?”

    “I suppose that’s one way to look at it.”  (pg. 155)

 

Kindle Details…

    Yellow Ribbon is currently priced at $5.99 at Amazon.  The rest of the books in the series cost anywhere from  $0.99 to $5.99, with the majority going for the higher price.

 

“We sailed down the road doing our best not to listen to idiot Carlos as he forever destroyed any positive thoughts we may have had regarding Frosty the Snowman.”  (pg. 143)

    The profanity in Yellow Ribbon is moderate; I noted 14 instances in the first 10% of the book, most of which were of the milder, 4-lettered ilk.  A couple of f-bombs show up later, plus one sex toy.  All in all this felt pretty clean for a Dev Haskell story.

 

    There were a bunch of typos, most of which involved punctuation gaffes: missing commas, how to handle multiple paragraphs of the same person speaking, and unneeded apostrophes denoting plurals.  This is par for the course for this series.  Also, one plot thread is left dangling—the whereabouts of one of the main characters.  Perhaps this will be resolved in the next book Dog Gone.

 

    For me, the big disappointment was the storytelling itself.  There is zero plot progression for the majority of the book.  We drive around, in various vehicles, and listen to Dev try to talk his way, and the two girls’ out of their captive predicament.  This might have been okay if the text were loaded with sparkling wit.  Instead, we, and Dev, are merely treated to person after person commenting on how crappy Dev looks.

 

    The big question now is whether Yellow Ribbon signals a shift in tone for the rest of the series.  The sequel, Dog Gone, is on my Kindle.  Here’s hoping it returns to the tried-and-true formula Mike Faricy has used to chronicle Dev’s misadventures.

 

    5 Stars.  One last thing.  I enjoyed learning an acronym that apparently is commonly used in police radio communications: BOLO.  It means “Be On The Lookout” for something or someone.

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.