I enjoyed this book as much as the previous two Spellman tales. Lisa Lutz is brilliantly funny, especially with dialogue. I'd love to see the Spellman stories made into a movie,as long as Lisa writes the script. I suspect there could be a fourth book down the track as there is plenty of scope for the characters futures. ( )

Lisa Lutz makes me laugh. Out loud. She is a very clever writer. Her characters are part of a crazy family who are all part of their own private investigator business, are so much fun! But it's her copious footnotes that are truly hysterical!

Izzy Spellman has worked for the family business since she was twelve. In the last book, her inability to moderate her addiction to snooping (not a bad trait for a detective, I guess) led to being convicted of stalking the next door neighbour and ordered into therapy by the judge. In the aftermath, she decides to take a break and takes up bartending instead. All the familiar faces are there and learning more about them is part of the attraction of Lutz’s writing.

Her family, job, apartment, and friends all seem to be changing and Izzy is growing up (she’s now 31) and has some serious choices to make. Of course, her natural curiosity prevents her from snooping, and before long she is again embroiled in all sorts of outrageous situations. She’s dealing with her parents’ pressure to make her mind up about taking over the business; looking for a job after being sacked from the bar by her old friend Milo; seeing a new therapist (the first one refused to sign off on the court order because she would not open up); investigating her brother David’s weird behaviour; negotiating a sort of peace between Rae, her increasingly erratic teenage sister, and Henry's new girlfriend; packing her old lawyer friend Morty off to Florida before his wife of 58 years divorces him; living in her brother’s basement without him knowing; and being blackmailed. Oh, and in between all of this, she has taken on an increasingly odd legitimate case – one where she can’t stop even after the client has given up.

In other words, it is pretty much life as usual – for a Spellman! ( )

Private investigator Isabel Spellman quit her job with her family’s detective business and is working part-time as a bartender at her friend Milo’s bar while trying to decide what to do next. She’s also been through one block of court-ordered therapy and has been passed by that therapist on to another. Milo persuades Isabel to take on a relatively simple case for one of his friends, whose wife is acting mysterious and bringing home expensive items. Meanwhile, Isabel’s brother David returns from a secret trip and stops going to work. Isabel finds out David has a secret apartment in his basement so moves in without his permission. Isabel’s sister Rae’s been accused of cheating on the PSATs and has finally made Detective Henry Stone angry enough he is no longer speaking to her. Isabel can’t sleep in her new home due to her fear of being found by David, so takes naps on buses. She tails the wife, only to be tailed herself. If that isn’t bad enough, her car keeps disappearing. And her feelings for Henry Stone just can’t stay put.

Once more Lisa Lutz provides readers with a fun-filled whodunit which is more about the wacky Spellman family than the actual mystery, but readers won’t mind one bit. The Spellmans are a fascinating, dysfunctional family with individual quirks and laugh-out-loud personas. A definite must-read for those who enjoy a good dose of humor along with a good book. ( )

The third installment of the Spellman saga. Izzy has her usual life, nowhere to live so she sneaks in her brother's place, and she has to spy on him to figure out his secret. Her therapy isn't going so well, she needs two doctors. Someone is blackmailing her to go to the museum and wash her father's car. And she doesn't know why! Meanwhile, Rae cheated on the Psssats, so her parents cancel their disappearance. Did I mention she has a job to spy on a man's wife? And someone is tailing her. Then she was offered a big bribe, but for what?? Its all explained in the third book [now available in hardback.] ( )

There were actually a couple of moments when I teared up - which just goes to show that even a funny book can have its touching moments. I really like Izzy and hope I don't have to wait to long to find out what's happening next in her life. ( )