The Mystery Starts Here

The book starts with the discover of the body of Vince Grabowski, a greedy land developer. He spotted face down, floating in a seal grotto on the coast of Oregon. Anyone who’s ever driven alone the Central Oregon coast will recognize the area fictionalized in this book.

The characters are many and quirky and all of them had a reason to want Grabowski dead. I laughed out loud while reading the book. For a while I thought it was going to be shades of Agatha Christie as several people did something to Grawbowski that COULD have lead to his demise.  Some books that a loaded with quirky characters become tiresome and almost boring, but not this one. Even the names of the stores are silly and fun, like the kite store – Passing Wind.

The entire book takes place in the few days leading up to the big Whirligig festival, for which the the town is known,  where the true identity of the killer is revealed. The interaction among townspeople is not only funny but interesting and the description of the Festival Activities was hilarious!  And then there’s old Bucket, the whale with a very unfortunate habit. I almost shot coffee out of my nose when I read about him.

Don’t wait – go out now and get a copy of “The Big Grabowski.” You won’t be disappointed, I promise! If you like this type of book you’ll enjoy my humorous mystery, “Finder,”  available at: www.wildchildpublishing. Here’s a blurb:

All her life, Carol Reston has wanted to be a published author. Her husband finds a dead body and Carol discovers several women have gone missing in town. With the help of her thrice-divorced, martini-drinking, Jaguar-driving, world-traveling Aunt Sissy Montgomery, Carol locates all the women and discovers the identity of the body. In the end, Carol has a book contract, Chauncy has a new playmate, David has his dream job and Sissy has found a new calling. She’s a Finder.

When I saw Marshall Karp latest mystery, Cut, Paste, Kill featuring Lomax and Biggs, I snatched it off the New Books shelf at the library. This is the fourth in a series about the two LAPD homicide cops and it doesn’t disappoint.

The novel starts when Lomax and Biggs are called to the scene of a murder. A diplomat’s wife was found stabbed to death in the ladies room of a hotel restaurant. She had been responsible for the death of a 10-year-old boy she killed while driving drunk, but got off because of diplomatic  immunity. Beside her body is an intricate scrapbook. Soon another body shows up with a scrapbook. The duo investigate and follow clues, hoping to find the killer before he….or she, kills more people.

I enjoy the easy banter between Lomax and Biggs and especially like Lomax’s father, Big Jim. That said, I didn’t find this book nearly as funny as Karp’s previous three books. I also figured out who the killer was….and why, fairly easily. The author really telegraphed the ending on this one.

So, if you’re looking for a good, fast, enjoyable read, pick up Cut, Paste, Kill. You won’t be disappointed. Still I hope Karp’s next book gives us more of that famous Lomax and Biggs humor.

If you enjoy reading humor as much I do, pick up a copy of my latest published novel, Roman Circus at www.nobleromance.com. I promise you won’t be disappointed!