The Spellman files

A great mystery story about a family of private investigators, including the kids! Think it would be a very interesting way to grow up.

neat

I've come across reviews for the later entries in this series and it sounds like a lot of fun. Quirky with a twist of zany. Because I can't take more than a twist of zany with my books. Too much zany ruins a book for me.

The idea of a family of private eyes who compulsively investigate each other is a great one and Lutz throws in good characters, great details (filberts in the bridge mix) and snappy dialogue. For my taste, there wasn't exactly enough story, but I think it's because Lutz was never going for a stand-alone and therefore spent a lot of time fleshing out characters to woo us into a series situation.

And it completely worked. I remained on the fence through most of this book, thinking, yes there are funny parts (I love Rae at the Philosopher's Club), but I'm not enthralled. Then, in the last 20 pages, it all comes together and I was enthralled. I'd definitely recommend it to someone looking for a light read with some sass.

I'm going to continue with the series too, but I'm making the jump to audio. The narrator, Christina Moore, has gotten good reviews for her work on the audiobooks and I think the Spellman clan will translate beautifully to audio.