Curse of the Spellmans: A Novel by Lisa Lutz and Ari Graynor

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Curse of the Spellmans: A Novel from Mystery & Thrillers

Curse of the Spellmans: A Novel
Available from Amazon
Price: $8.74
Updated on 6-30-2008.

Features

Audio CD

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Abridged edition (March 11, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0743571266

ISBN-13: 978-0743571265

Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches

Shipping Weight: 8 ounces ()

Amazon.com
Lisa Lutz, author of The Spellman Files, is back with another story of the shenanigans of the Spellman family: The Curse of the Spellmans. The "parental unit" started a private investigation business when Dad retired from police work. His wife assists him and their two daughters, Isabel, (Izzy) a 30-year-old with a habit of being arrested, and Rae, a 15-year-old Cheetos-loving teen, would like to think that they help out in the family business. Especially where Izzy is concerned, this is a stretch. Brother David is a successful attorney who has nothing to do with the family enterprise. He has troubles of his own. Izzy has been living in the apartment of a friend while he is away. When he returns unexpectedly, it quickly becomes clear that being roommates with an old, cigar-smoking, poker-playing, big drinker isn't going to work. Izzy moves home temporarily and then the fun begins. She decides that their new next door neighbor, John Brown, whose landscape gardening business she judges to be a cover, is somehow making women disappear. She gets herself invited to dinner, discovers a locked room, believes his name is phony, follows him everywhere, has a restraining order against her, and still she can't let it go. Meanwhile, Rae has befriended a great guy, a cop named Henry Stone, who is almost too good to be true. The reader starts pulling for him and Izzy to get together right away, even though he doesn't deserve the aggravation. Lutz keeps the ball rolling faster and faster with David's problems, her parents' frequent vacations, which they refer to as "disappearances," and the fact that everyone in the family has secrets from one another. If there is any curse at work here, it is that all the family members are terminally nosy. What they discover about each other and the other players keeps you turning pages and hoping that Lutz is hard at work on the next installment of this zany family's misadventures. --Valerie Ryan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In the two years that have passed since the action in Lutz's hit debut, The Spellman Files (2007), zany Isabel Spellman, who works for the family PI firm in San Francisco, has become a somewhat responsible member of society. Unfortunately, she's also become obsessed with Subject (aka John Brown), a next-door neighbor who she's convinced has an evil secret she must expose, even if it means losing her PI license. Adding further hilarity is The Stone and Spellman Show, transcripts of recordings revealing 15-year-old sister Rae's fascination with her middle-aged best friend, stoic SFPD inspector Henry Stone, who endures Rae's adoration with liberal doses of Doctor Who watching. Henry's link to the Spellman family's fortunes suggests he might be a good candidate for Isabel's Ex-boyfriend #11 when Subject fails to make the grade. Fans of The Spellman Files will laugh just as loudly at the comic antics chronicled in this sparkling sequel. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Curse of the Spellmans: A Novel (Hardcover) Welcome back to the wacky world of the Spellman family. They really live in their own universe. This family of Private Investigators thinks nothing of investigating each other. They have deadbolts on their bedroom doors. They have taken to calling vacations disappearances and disappearances vacations. And they are so much fun to spend time with. This book picks up two years after the end of the first book. And it seems everyone is acting strangely. Older brother David is staying home watching TV and eating junk. The father, Albert, is sneaking out of the house and returning with wet hair. Meanwhile, he's actually eating healthy. Olivia, the mother, is sneaking out of the house late at night herself. Youngest sister Rae is distraught about accidentally almost vehicularly manslaughtering her best friend, Inspector Henry Stone. And Isabel is hot on the trail of the copycat vandals ruining neighbor Mrs. Chandler's holiday displays. These vandals are copying the crimes that Isabel did when she was a teenage (not that she has any idea what you are talking about). But what has really captured Isabel's attention is the Spellman's new neighbor. "John Brown" seems nice enough, but he sure has lots of shredded paper. And who really has such a common name? Plus Isabel can't track down any information on him. And he is evasive with answers to her questions. You know, simple things like where are you from? What do you do for a living? When were you born? What's your social security number? All this leads Isabel to be arrested four times (or twice depending on how you count) in a matter of months. How will it all end? As with the first in the series, this book is hard to adequately describe. It uses short scenes (not really chapters) to propel the story forward and help us keep everything straight. I laughed multiple times as the story unfolded. Yes, there are some mysteries, but this isn't a mystery. This is a novel about a family. Which means these characters are well developed. And that's what makes the ending very touching. With everything going on, the book never drags. And I had a smile on my face almost the entire time I was reading it. In fact, I even got caught laughing out loud in public. A word of warning. This book (by necessity) spoils the first book about the Spellmans. So if you are interested, get The Spellman Files first. I couldn't put the book down. While I think living with the Spellmans would drive me crazy, they are a wonderful family to visit in the pages of a novel. So pick up this wild, wacky, and wonderful novel today. Comments (2) | Permalink | (Report this)

Curse of the Spellmans: A Novel
Available from Amazon
Price: $8.74
Updated on 6-30-2008.