If you like PG Wodehouse, you'll enjoy this romp through the British aristocracy. The story revolves around a codicil that may or may not exist but whIf you like PG Wodehouse, you'll enjoy this romp through the British aristocracy. The story revolves around a codicil that may or may not exist but which involved the defenestration (from a locked room, of course) of a relative of Boisjoly's close friend. Defenestration is described as a violent disagreement with gravity. If you enjoy Wodehouse, word play, and amusing banter in an English manor setting, you will find this book amusing. I'll read the next one for sure....more
I've read a lot of Estleman, and I wish he had written a lot more like this one. There were many laugh-out-loud scenes. Ralph is about the most uncoutI've read a lot of Estleman, and I wish he had written a lot more like this one. There were many laugh-out-loud scenes. Ralph is about the most uncouth and drunken P.I. one would ever care to meet, but even he could never have imagined the streak of bad luck he ran into this time.
"I made the mistake of anwering the phone. Since then I been doped, chased, busted, fucked, stuck guns at, almost burned, and throwed to the dogs. I’m out of a job. I’m wanted for murder, so I can’t go home. I got an appointment with a killer. I don’t even own a pair of shoes. My life’s always been shit, but lately there’s blood in it. What makes you think I’m in trouble?”
I had eagerly awaited what I thought was to be the next installment of the Rhodenbarr series only to discover that it's merely a collection of very shI had eagerly awaited what I thought was to be the next installment of the Rhodenbarr series only to discover that it's merely a collection of very short stories with Bernie as a vague theme and some essays discussing his genesis. Very disappointed....more
This is a charming collection of posts that appeared every Wednesday detailing the trials and tribulations of Winston's interactions with his owners (This is a charming collection of posts that appeared every Wednesday detailing the trials and tribulations of Winston's interactions with his owners (or should I say, staff.) It's accompanied by very cute photographs. Sadly Winston died late last year. If you love cats and are intrigued by their special behavior, you'll love this little book.
Full disclosure: the author is my niece, but that affected my affection for this book not a whit....more
This is a marvelous series: delightful characters, humor, a decent mystery. What more could you ask for.
Sheriff Bo Tully is off to collect huckleberriThis is a marvelous series: delightful characters, humor, a decent mystery. What more could you ask for.
Sheriff Bo Tully is off to collect huckleberries so his mother can bake him some pies when he meets three hysterical women who have discovered three bodies. There are three hard looking men in town worth investigating. And a local wife who insists her ex-husband has been murdered. Because the bodies were found on federal land, the FBI sends an agent to verify that the investigation is done properly. She soon falls under the spell of doing things the "Blight" way.
Fourth one I've read in the series and I needn't say more than to say it's as good as the others with amusing characters, an interesting mystery, and Fourth one I've read in the series and I needn't say more than to say it's as good as the others with amusing characters, an interesting mystery, and a fun way to spend an afternoon....more
This is the second Bo Tully story I have read and it's even more enjoyable than the first. The interplay between the characters, Bo father and ex-sherThis is the second Bo Tully story I have read and it's even more enjoyable than the first. The interplay between the characters, Bo father and ex-sheriff who made a fortune as a corrupt sheriff, Lurch, his CSI, Daisy, the secretary, and Herb, the under-sheriff, is charming and humorous.
Bo is called to a resort in the mountains to investigate the disappearance of the co-owner. On the way they are barely missed by an avalanche which we soon learn was deliberately aimed at his vehicle. No more spoilers. The series is a lot of fun and I intend to read all of them. Reminiscent of the delightful "liturgical" mysteries by Mark Schweizer that are often laugh-out-loud funny. ...more
Charming police procedural of the cozy kind; a Steven Havill novel with more humor, if you will. McManus is a humor writer and this series departs froCharming police procedural of the cozy kind; a Steven Havill novel with more humor, if you will. McManus is a humor writer and this series departs from that genre, but the quirkiness of the characters has a subtle humor that helps you appreciate and like them.
The main character is Sheriff Bo Tully who is called by the local miscreant family to their ranch where a man has been found shot and draped over a fence. Realizing they would be the logical suspects, they thought it might be best to phone it in. Then, again, had they done it, the body would have been buried and not found. Tully knows that. Turns out Vern Littlefield's new wife and the new hands on his ranch (ostensibly he was switching from cattle to grapes!) may be part of something nasty. Tully bring his father along (the former sheriff) for curmudgeonly relief.
The timid among us who are fearful of being exposed to a "bad" word will appreciate McManus as with the Posadas County mysteries. I don't mind one way or the other. The book was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, and I will read more in the series....more
If you like Aurelio Zen novels, this book might disappoint you. If you enjoy Michael Dibdin, you’ll love this story. Aurelio is really just a peripherIf you like Aurelio Zen novels, this book might disappoint you. If you enjoy Michael Dibdin, you’ll love this story. Aurelio is really just a peripheral character. He’s recovering from surgery and trying to fix his relationship with Jenna. (Reading some of the earlier novels first would be useful.) Dibdin’s goal in this wickedly funny and cynical view of Italian academia and upper crust is to skewer the phoniness of the elites and famous. Lots of in jokes including a hidden appearance of Umberto Eco disguised as Eduardo Ugo as a semiotics professor which gives you an idea of Dibdin’s humor.
I suggest reading some of the earlier books in the series and Googling “Ruritania.” The crime is irrelevant and plays second fiddle to Dibdin’s irreverent look at Italiana and gentle spoofing of Italian detective stories. Dibdin has a way with words that often brings a smile to one’s face....more
I rarely listen to "children's" books, but my wife prevailed upon me to listen to this together in the car and I must admit to enjoying it. Well read I rarely listen to "children's" books, but my wife prevailed upon me to listen to this together in the car and I must admit to enjoying it. Well read by the narrator, it has a lot of humor and was perfect for the trip we were on....more
The first Myron Bolitar, excellently read by Jonathan Marozs. It’s a lot of fun with Coben displaying the wise-cracking Bolitar to good advantage.
MyroThe first Myron Bolitar, excellently read by Jonathan Marozs. It’s a lot of fun with Coben displaying the wise-cracking Bolitar to good advantage.
Myron, ex-basketball star, lawyer, and former spook, has just started his sports agency business and has signed Christian Steele to a lucrative contract with the Titans. Steele’s girlfriend (and sister to Myron’s girlfriend Jessica) has disappeared and is presumed to have been murdered by some random serial killer. Jessica, whose father, a medical examiner, has also been murdered recently, asks Myron to find out what happened to her sister. Of course, all the murders are related.
The regular characters are introduced in the novel: Wynn, the amoral, rich, sidekick; and Esperanza, his wiseass secretary and former wrestling champion. It all makes for a wonderful melange of mystery and investigation although occasionally it reads like an apologia for sports agents who must operate in a very sleezy world.
I’ve read several in the Bolitar series and like all of them. Some of the jokes in this the first of the series are a bit archaic. For example, “What did you say your name was?” “ Dom Deluise.”...more
The “Burglar” series books are always charming and this one is no exception. Bernie is on the prowl for a score but is soon (as usual) enmeshed in a mThe “Burglar” series books are always charming and this one is no exception. Bernie is on the prowl for a score but is soon (as usual) enmeshed in a murder that brings new meaning to the word “complicated.” The plot is intricate and the “long arm of coincidence” sets off his internal alarms and you might think it overreaches, but these books are read for the style and dialogues. In classic style, Bernie gets everyone together for the final denouement.
Audiobook: A Lutheran minister steals a stela from a dig in Israel and returns back to his home in Mankato. He has an incurable illness and then disapAudiobook: A Lutheran minister steals a stela from a dig in Israel and returns back to his home in Mankato. He has an incurable illness and then disappears. Virgil is asked by his boss, Lucas Davenport, to liase with an Israeli antiquities investigator who has come over to get the stella back. Its importance soon becomes clear as the inscription on the stela seems to imply that King Solomon may have been an Egyptian pharaoh. So, of course, everyone wants to get his hands on the stela for political and monetary reasons. A couple of Turks, a Mossad agent, a gun-toting (don’t they all?) Texan, an Indiana Jones wanna-be and a fake IAA investigator are all after this thing and to top it off “Fucking” Flowers has to deal with “Ma” Nobel a local institution who’s selling fake antique lumber and keep everyone from killing each other.
Classic Virgil Flowers and this may be the best of the series. Some of the dialogue is LOL funny. I really like him as a character, and Eric Conger reads magnificently.
Dortmunder is another fine creation of Donald Westlake. He occasionally appears in the Parker stories, but this one is devoted to Dortmunder himself. Dortmunder is another fine creation of Donald Westlake. He occasionally appears in the Parker stories, but this one is devoted to Dortmunder himself. Things always seem to go wrong and the beginning is no exception. They attempt to burgle a house on Long Island that’s supposed to be empty but it’s a house being used as a trysting place for Fairbanks (pun perhaps?) a thieving executive millionaire and his mistress. He calls the cops and then has the temerity to steal a “lucky” ring off Dortmunder’s finger before he gets hauled off to jail. Dortmunder escapes the police car (a humorous event in itself) and vows to get the ring back and make the guy sorry for his humiliation.
The plot then revolves around Dortmunders extraordinary capers to get the ring back. And in the process, they decide to rob a Las Vegas casino. After conducting a little third-rate burglary at the Watergate. A little third-rate burglary at the Watergate?” Andy said, “I already tried that on him, and it didn’t work. John isn’t much of a history buff.”... Herman paused to take a roll of duct tape from inside his tuxedo jacket, tear off a length, and attach it to the edge of the door over the striker to keep it from locking. Spies, political agents, and other amateurs put such tape on a door horizontally, so that it shows on both front and back, and can be noticed by a passing security person. (There is a risk here that anyone under the age of forty will not get this reference at all.)
What makes these books are the little side comments Westlake throws in a social criticism. For example: “On the TV, people covered with blood were being carried to ambulances. Wherever it was, it looked like a real mess. Then, as Dortmunder watched, the people and the ambulances faded away and some candy bars began to dance.” and “The thing is,” Andy explained, “when I feel I need a car, good transportation, something very special, I look for a vehicle with MD plates. This is one place where you can trust doctors. They understand discomfort, and they understand comfort, and they got the money to back up their opinions.”...more
The Indulgence is the largest cruise ship in the world with every imaginable attraction including a rainforest with its own indigenous people, a 3D suThe Indulgence is the largest cruise ship in the world with every imaginable attraction including a rainforest with its own indigenous people, a 3D surround movie theater, and a high wire line that transports you through the air above the ship. Funded by a prince of an Arab country, Henry is hired to make sure nothing happens to Meg Savoy, an American Air Force general who has many secrets with regard to drone operations that many other countries would enjoy getting their computers on.
As usual Henry is annoyingly lustful and occasionally forgetful, although his malapropisms and odd memory seem as much a part of his technique as old age. He’s also sly as a fox. He stumbles into several side plots and with his usual aplomb (but very hard spine) manages to outwit the bad guys. He has to worry this voyage about what seems to be some early Alzheimer’s as well.
These books are obviously not to be taken seriously, but much like a fine, creamy chocolate, become addictive and hard to put down. They are well written and often chuckle-out-loud funny. I’ve read three now and hope Doonan continues to write in the series. I should be so spry at 85.
These stories are captivating. I did a little research on the author who holds a Ph.D. in archaeology and was a lecturer on cruise ships for many yearThese stories are captivating. I did a little research on the author who holds a Ph.D. in archaeology and was a lecturer on cruise ships for many years in addition to working on digs, so the archaeological references certainly ring true. Our hero was an archaeologist, too, that is, until he lost the mummies.
This time, Henry Grave, investigator for the Cruise Line Association, is sent to Greece and on board the Vesper, where the man guarding a priceless Minoan vase has been murdered and the vase disappeared. Henry investigates in his usual Columbo-like form filled with House of Pancake business cards, but cunning cleverness.
A good mystery with Henry having only three days to solve the crime. Some nice travel comments, as well. I really like this series....more
I love ships, but I remember being horribly seasick way back when I was a child and we took transatlantic liners to Europe so naturally I have always I love ships, but I remember being horribly seasick way back when I was a child and we took transatlantic liners to Europe so naturally I have always been reluctant to do what I’d really like to do and which my father did -- sail on a freighter sometime. I love the looks of the classic liner, even the modern cruise ship’s lines have appeal. But after watching YouTube videos of cruises and seeing the number of passengers they cram on board with golf courses and rock climbing and shopping and all that bullshit, I am thoroughly deterred. When (and if) I ever go to sea, I want to be at sea, not on some floating resort with people my age. Ugh.
That doesn’t mean I dislike reading about ships. That’s why I bought several books in the Henry Grave series. He’s an investigator for the Cruise Line Association. He’s also old (eighties) but he’s a cunning fellow, so when an FBI profiler, who was a lecturer on a cruise ship and famous for his capture of the Crossing Guard Killer, is found dead at the top of the rock climbing wall. Grave has a bizarre background and he’s funny talking about it: “We Googled you,” Hugh Arlen said, interrupting my train of thought. “That’s a computer term. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the internet.” “I once had a number calculating machine.” “We learned some interesting things about you. You were a POW.” “I was. It was the most intensive weight reduction program money can buy. I was quite thin by the end. Also, I lost four teeth, but that’s a story for another day. I had them replaced. You can see just back here.” I leaned forward and opened my mouth wide.
Needless to say he appears totally innocuous. But very clever. Having known a talented forger in the POW camps, he has an entire collection of fake ID cards. And who would question and old man’s veracity? Interviewing one couple he hands them a card. Wrong card. Turns out it says he’s from Penthouse.
I frowned. I looked at the card. I think it wasn’t the one I was looking for. “Just freelance. An article here and there.” “It says here you’re the senior editor.” Opal pointed to the title under my name. I found my glasses and had a closer look. So it did. “It’s a thankless job,” I told them. Opal backed off a little. “I had grand ideas when I took the job. We were going to move into whole new areas; more focus on the environment, alternative energies, orphans and koala bears, that sort of thing. I felt the magazine had gotten off track with all the nudity.” “But it’s a pornography magazine,” Doug insisted. “Nudity is its track.” I nodded. “Which is why they fired me as senior editor, but I still get to write hard-hitting articles. Last month I wrote about teenage runaways in Egypt. They leave their families and then go to the pyramids to try to make it there but they can’t find work so they just sniff glue at the pyramids. It’s very sad. You have no idea how young these kids are.”
Fortney and Leeds are two harbor patrol cops in San Diego. Blaze is a hooker enlisted by Ambrose, the Keeper of the Cup, to engage in a scheme to thwaFortney and Leeds are two harbor patrol cops in San Diego. Blaze is a hooker enlisted by Ambrose, the Keeper of the Cup, to engage in a scheme to thwart the New Zealanders likely win of the America Cup. It’s a complicated plan involving making one crane operator sick so another can arrange for the boat with it’s slick design to fall as it’s being lifted into the water. Dawn is another hooker who happens to know Blaze and arranges to leave town before she can be murdered by her pimp. Then there are a couple of really smart cops, “Letch” (you can guess how he got his nickname) Boggs, and Annie Zorn formerly Bartlett and Sullivan, a homicide detective.
All of these characters come together.
Lots of humorous and cynical dialogue and scenes. I love the one where Fortney and Leeds see what is apparently a man walking on water (it *was* Easter Sunday so it might be allowed) only to discover it was a man walking on the top of his motor home at the boat ramp, screaming, “You fucking bitch. I told you to put it in gear.”
Leeds is a practical joker. “Two years earlier he’d gone to the trouble of capturing a ground squirrel and putting it in the bottom drawer of the sergeant’s desk. Recapturing it after it scared the crap out of the guy had nearly destroyed the entire office...These days Leeds was preoccupied with politics rather than practical jokes. A hobnailed Republican, he’d dedicated himself to purging the nation of President Clinton, whom he called the dude with the world’s worst taste in babes. Anything could bring on a political diatribe. When they cruised past the Youth Camp area on Fiesta Island and a boozy bunch of teenagers playing volleyball on the beach flipped them off, Leeds said, “I wanna retire to a place where everyone waves at cops with all their fingers.”
Humorous scenes abound with lots of biting social commentary and ridicule of the America’s Cup culture. Lots of fun. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Wambaugh and will now work (hardly work) my way through more of his books. ...more
This is the fourth and last of the Henry Grave series of cruise-detective novels I have read. It was as much fun as the others, but i have to admit thThis is the fourth and last of the Henry Grave series of cruise-detective novels I have read. It was as much fun as the others, but i have to admit this one was beginning to feel too formulaic. Grave is as old, as hungry, as lusty, and as clever (but a bit addled) as usual which often brings a smile, but it’s a more tired smile.
This voyage, Henry is helicoptered by the Association of Cruising Vessel Operators, to a Russian ship where it a particularly vicious murder has taken place, one that appears to have been committed by a cannibal. Not to give anything away, the plot involves a plant that blooms every seventy years, an ethnobiologist, an old nemesis, rabbits, Alaskan indian natives, a wendigo, and a shaman. (The author is an archaeologist, after all.)
A very pleasant way to spend an afternoon. I suggest reading the series in order. I’m now off to read one of Doonan’s non-Grave novels. 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
The books in order: Grave Passage Mediterranean Grave Grave Indulgence Aleutian Grave ...more
Another in the fine Rachel Gold series featuring the very fat and obscene but extremely bright and loyal Benny. Rachel is hired by Sally to handle herAnother in the fine Rachel Gold series featuring the very fat and obscene but extremely bright and loyal Benny. Rachel is hired by Sally to handle her divorce, something Rachel has sworn not to do. But Sally displays the marks of having been beaten and turns up dead the next day. As her last attorney of record, Rachel is hired to handle the trust and reassign Sally’s clients
I love some of the word play. For example: I gave him a cynical look. “Are you planning to impress her with the size of your epistemology?” “Hey, woman, as Manny Kant once said, it’s not the length of your metaphysics, it’s the quality of your categorical imperatives.” “I love when you philosophy guys talk dirty.”
I won’t say more but to note the title is a pun and gall stones play a role. 3.5 stars, but only because I don’t think it’s quite as good as the preceding titles....more
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