The year is 1984, and Richard "Richie" Cunningham gets bad
news from his hometown in Milwaukee. Arthur Fonzarelli, his
best friend when he was growing up, the Fonz is dead. Fonzie
was driving his motorcycle when he crossed a bridge and lost
control and into the guardrail. He went over the handlebar
into the water, but no body has been found. Crushed Richard
gets back home to the memorial service for Fonzie. In
Milwaukee, the memories of his youth come back, but he also
realizes the death of the Fonz may be something other than
accidental. It may have been murder.
Reading WHO KILLED THE FONZ? was a true pleasure. A
wonderful nostalgic pleasure. Thirty years have passed since
Richie was a teenager and now he's grown up with his own
family. However, he's a bit lost in life, his career in the
movie business isn't going as well as he had hoped.
Returning home, meeting old friends and mourning over the
death over his childhood friend makes him look back to when
he was a teenager and had his whole life ahead of him. And,
of course, he's in mourning. He may have lost the close
contact he once had with Fonzie, but, the Fonz will always
be one of the most important people in his life. Could it
really be that someone murdered him? Why and who?
WHO KILLED THE FONZ? is a book for Happy Days fans. I
watched the show when I was a teenager, and I loved it and
its sister show, Laverne & Shirley. Reading this book
without having seen Happy Days, or have any knowledge of the
show will probably work since it's a pretty easy-going
story. However, I think those that look back with fondness
of growing up watching the show will be the most likely to
truly appreciate this gem.
The legendary 1950s-era TV show Happy Days
gets reinvented as a gritty 1980s noir.
Late October, 1984. Prince and Bruce
are dominating FM radio. Ron and Nancy are headed back to
the White House. Crockett and Tubbs are leading men
everywhere to embrace pastels. And Richard Cunningham? Well,
Richard Cunningham is having a really bad
Sunday.
First, there\'s the meeting with his agent. A
decade ago, the forty-something Cunningham was one of
Hollywood\'s hottest screenwriters. But Tinseltown is no
longer interested in his artsy, introspective scripts. They
want Terminator cyborgs and exploding Stay Puft
Marshmallow men. If he isn\'t interested in that sort of
thing, his agent tells him, he\'s gonna have to find new
representation.
Then later that same day he gets a
phone call with even worse news. His best friend from
childhood back in Milwaukee, back when everyone called him
Richie, is dead. Arthur Fonzarelli. The Fonz. Lost
control of his motorcycle while crossing a bridge and
plummeted into the water below. Two days of searching and
still no body, no trace of his trademark leather
jacket.
Richard flies back for the memorial service,
only to discover that Fonzie\'s death was no accident—it was
murder. With the help of his old pals Ralph Malph and Potsie
Weber, he sets out to catch the killer. Who it turns out to
be is shocking. So is the story\'s final
twist.
Who Killed The Fonz? imagines what
happened to the characters of the legendary TV series
Happy Days twenty years after the show left off. And
while much has changed in the interim—goodbye drive-in movie
theaters, hello VCRs—the story centers around the same
timeless themes as the show: the meaning of family. The
significance of friendship. The importance of
community.
Fast-paced and full of nostalgia, Who
Killed the Fonz? is an ingenious twist on a beloved
classic that proves sometimes you can go home
again.