Crashed (A Junior Bender Mystery) (2012)

by Timothy Hallinan

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Junior Bender (1)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
285	22	92,982	(3.83)	4
Fiction. Mystery. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:Quick-talking burglar Junior Bender gets blackmailed into starting a new career as a private investigator for crooks in this hilarious Hollywood mystery Junior Bender, a burglar with a magic touch, is being blackmailed into taking on a new freelance job. One of LA�??s biggest crime bosses is producing a porn movie that someone keeps sabotaging; Junior�??s job is to figure out who�??s responsible and keep the movie on track. The trouble is, he�??s not sure he can go through with the job, blackmail or no blackmail. The actress lined up to star in the film, Thistle Downing, is an ex-child star who now lives alone in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. This movie would be scandalous fodder for tabloids around the country. Junior knows what he should do�??get Thistle out and find her some help�??but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of… (more)

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Showing 1-5 of 22 (next | show all)

Very enjoyable. Plot was solidly constructed but not overly predictable, characters were likable, even though they had some homicidal tendencies, lots of humor and action and a sort of noir light feel to the whole thing (

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cspiwak | Mar 6, 2024 |

I don't know why this book didn't cut it with me. I really wanted to like it but I just kept finding myself thinking about other books. It wasn't nearly funny enough to keep me going. (

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cdaley | Nov 2, 2023 |

Really good story and characters. Clever and sarcastic with plenty of action. (

)

grandpahobo | Aug 5, 2021 |

Junior Bender is a skilled burglar and accepts an assignment to steal a Klee painting, only to find out it belongs to a Mafioso's wife. He is then blackmailed to help mobster Trey Annunziato coerce a once immensely popular child TV star, now 18 and on the skids, to make a trilogy of porn films. Junior sees a damaged sole, and decides to help her, putting himself in grave danger from multiple parties. Funny at times, pathetic at others, kind of trashy, but I will read the next one. (

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skipstern | Jul 11, 2021 |

I finished this last night and logged onto Goodreads this morning to note it only to discover that at some point I'd marked it as a 'reject'! I can see why. It was not the best written with the tightest plot but after a bit, I was at least interested enough to get to the end. There were a few too many not needed characters and some needed characters that didn't really make sense but...

The character of Junior Bender, the protagonist thief, was cute enough and the basic plot of a child star trying to stay alive long enough to patch up her broken life worked somewhat.

No need to read the rest of the series, I don't think. (

)

susandennis | Jun 5, 2020 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Timothy Hallinan	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Agro, Janine	Jacket and book design	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Grames, Katherine	Illustrator, front cover design	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Junior Bender (1)

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Original publication date

2012

People/Characters

Important places

Los Angeles, California, USA

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

To my supremely talented brothers, PK and Michael

First words

If I'd liked expressionism, I might have been okay.

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Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

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Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

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▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Mystery. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:Quick-talking burglar Junior Bender gets blackmailed into starting a new career as a private investigator for crooks in this hilarious Hollywood mystery

Junior Bender, a burglar with a magic touch, is being blackmailed into taking on a new freelance job. One of LA�??s biggest crime bosses is producing a porn movie that someone keeps sabotaging; Junior�??s job is to figure out who�??s responsible and keep the movie on track.

The trouble is, he�??s not sure he can go through with the job, blackmail or no blackmail. The actress lined up to star in the film, Thistle Downing, is an ex-child star who now lives alone in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. This movie would be scandalous fodder for tabloids around the country. Junior knows what he should do�??get Thistle out and find her some help�??but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of

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