I think that nearly everyone thinks their families are
weird, quirky, or slightly insane. But the Spellmans, a
family of private investigators in San Francisco, has to
top the list of the most outlandish, most creative, mostly
insane family to grace the written page.
In Lisa Lutz's latest installment of "The Spellman Files,"
THE SPELLMANS STRIKE AGAIN, this wacky family is once again
up to their various hi-jinks that eventually lead them all
to cooperate with each other whether they want to or not
and basically, drive each other nuts. Lutz once again
presents several story lines that interact, with the
humorous narration by Isabel Spellman. You almost need a
score-card to keep up with all the action.
Among her many ventures and adventures, Isabel takes on a
surveillance job for the firm's oldest (and richest)
client, Mr. Winslow, who fears his staff is robbing him
blind. She hires her friend Len, an out-of-work actor, to
keep an eye on things and will do a good job, if he can
just get over his method-acting ways.
Isabel also takes on a new client, Jeremy Pratt who wants
to investigate the garbage of his former writing partner,
who he is convinced is stealing his screenplay.
And if work wasn't enough, Isabel keeps an eye on her big
brother, David, who has been spotted seeing a mysterious
blonde woman behind his girlfriend Maggie's back, tries to
be supportive to her mentor, Morty Schilling, who
desperately wants to leave Florida and move back to "San
Fran" and attempts to figure out younger sister Rae's
curious "best-friend" relationship with Isabel's one-time
love interest, Henry Stone. All while continuing her
relentless inquiry into her nemesis Rick Harkey's shady
background.
Oh, and her mother is blackmailing her in order to fix her
up on a blind date with a lawyer, while Isabel is
desperately trying to keep her relationship with future Ex-
Boyfriend #12 Connor on the front burner.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (or the Spellman family home),
doorknobs and other household fixtures are mysteriously
vanishing, Mom and Dad are insisting on having one day a
week to themselves, and sister Rae is on a campaign to save
a convict named Schmidt when she's not doing community
service for locking Isabel in a closet overnight. No one
quite knows if they are coming or going.
But as with all big, loving families, the Spellmans manage
to juggle all the crisis and drama that surround their
lives without killing each other, and still love one
another at the end of the day.
THE SPELLMANS STRIKE AGAIN is the fourth book featuring the
off-the-wall Spellmans, and author Lutz once again does a
masterful job of keeping the action light and humorous
(with dozens of footnotes that explain much of the complex
story). Part comedy, part drama, all very entertaining,
this novel is a rollercoaster of a good time read.
First among her priorities as head of Spellman
Investigations is to dig up some dirt on the competition,
slippery ex-cop Rick Harkey -- a task she may enjoy a little
too much. Next, faced with a baffling missing-persons case
at the home of an aging millionaire, Izzy hires an actor
friend, Len, to infiltrate the mansion as an undercover
butler -- a role he may enjoy a little much.
Meanwhile,
Izzy is being blackmailed by her mother (photographic
evidence of Prom Night 1994) to commit to regular blind
dates with promising professionals -- an arrangement that
doesn't thrill Connor, an Irish bartender on the brink of
becoming Ex-boyfriend #12.
At Spellman headquarters, it's
business as unusual. Doorknobs and light fixtures are
disappearing every day, Mom's been spotted crying in the
pantry, and a series of increasingly demanding Spellman
Rules (Rule #27: No Speaking Today) can't quite hold the
family together. Izzy also has to decipher weekly "phone
calls from the edge" from her octogenarian lawyer, Morty, as
well as Detective Henry Stone's mysterious interest in
rekindling their relationsh...well, whatever it was.
Just
when it looks like things can't go more haywire, little
sister Rae's internship researching pro bono legal cases
leads the youngest Spellman to launch a grassroots campaign
that could spring an innocent man from jail -- or land Rae
in it.
The Spellmans Strike Again is hands down the
most hilarious, thrilling, and moving book in this
bestselling, award-nominated series. And it proves beyond a
reasonable doubt that Isabel Spellman, no matter how much
she matures, will never be able to follow Rule #1: Act Normal.
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