Trail of the Spellmans
Lisa Lutz
Simon and Schuster, February 2012
Source: Free review copy provided by publisher
Buy if from Amazon.com: Trail of the Spellmans: Document #5
At age 34, Isabel Spellman is the best PI at Spellman Investigations, but the family-run business only has four employees, so that might be nothing to brag about. The Spellmans have a fairly full case load, lately--a man named Adam Cooper hires Isabel to follow his sister, a woman named Margaret Slayter employs them to keep tabs on her husband, and the concerned parents of a bright college freshman named Vivien Blake add to the client list. But between bouts of trailing after all her clients, Isabel notices several problems a lot closer to home: her mom has taken up a half dozen new and baffling hobbies, her brother and sister are at odds for unknown reasons, and there's tension between Isabel and her boyfriend, Henry. What's a girl to do when her unconventional professional life is actually much more normal than the wackiness going on at home?
I really liked the humor in Trail of the Spellmans. There's a nice vein of funniness running all through the book, such as the fact that Isabel, her dad, and her sister are occasionally referred to by their new code names of The Gopher, The Tortoise, and The Weasel. Isabel is having to do a lot of this hokey work-related stuff because, as Rae explains it: "[Dad] thinks if we add a layer of cinematic intrigue to our client meetings--code phrases, exotic locales--we could charge more." (pg 14). This is exactly my brand of quirkiness, and I like the self-awareness of Lisa Lutz' writing because several characters mention that certain possibilities are ludicrous because those things only happen in detective novels. So cool.
Another great thing about the world of the story is the offbeat personal details like how Isabel talks about her older brother David as if he's been two different people--"Old David," the handsome, sharklike opportunist, and "New David," the sloppy daddy who constantly totes around his adorable toddler daughter. I also like how Isabel refers to her current boyfriend Henry Stone as "Ex-boyfriend #13," in negative anticipation of breaking up eventually.
Isabel is a sharp woman, and even though ten minor mysteries are always circulating around her, she eventually puts all the facts together. Whether it's figuring out why one client is having her super-dull and normal husband followed, wondering why big brother David kicked kid sister Rae out of his house, or deciding how to deal with her boyfriend's mom, Isabel is more than capable of ferreting out answers.
Rather than having a tight, action-based plot, Trail of the Spellmans progresses more like a series of daily vignettes that eventually add up to a great story when viewed back to back. It's not a type of narrative progression that I'm used to, but man, do I ever like it! I had heard of the series before, but now I'm kicking myself for not reading it sooner. This stuff is comic gold, and makes for ideal light reading. Grade: A-
Is anyone else a fan of Isabel and the Spellmans? Did you like this book as well as the previous books? I'm thinking I need to read the backlist, here.
Book Review: Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz Link Free Download
