|
|
 |
by Bil Keane
|
|
|
|
|
by Robert L Duncan
|
|
|
|
|
by John Wesley Howard
|
|
|
|
(Larger Image)
|
Hearse Case Scenario, The (Hitchcock Sewell Mysteries)
by Tim Cockey
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Hyperion (2003-02-01)
ISBN: 0786889950
EAN: 9780786889952
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
Edition: 1
SKU: mon0000040061
Condition: Acceptable
Comments: "Dust jacket tattered and rippled. Front cover bowing slightly. Pages very clean, spine intact."
|
Editorial Reviews
|
Product Description
ockey's new mystery finds Hitch up to his ears in murders, and the latest clues point to a Baltimore nightclub. Following his nose, Hitch uncovers a host of nefarious goings-on as well as some downright strange characters, including a felonious artist, a Miles Davis wanna-be, an Ida Lupino look-alike, and one very irritated dance instructor. Put them all together, throw in a bag full of cash and an incriminating Polaroid, and you have another surefire, humor-laced hit from one of the freshest voices writing in the mystery world today.
|
Amazon.com Review
This third novel starring hapless Baltimore undertaker Hitchcock Sewell puts Hitch in the middle of a puzzle that gets weirder by the minute. His old friend Lucy has shot her lover, sleazy nightclub owner Shrimp Martin, and disappeared. Shrimp's gunshot wound isn't fatal, but a mysterious hospital visitor delivers the coup de grâce, a direct stab to the heart. Naturally the police think the loopy Lucy must be the killer. Hitch tracks Lucy to a beach house where she's hiding out in the company of Hitch's ex-wife Julia, and a private detective tracks Shrimp's missing stepbrother to some pungent underbrush, where his body's been since before Lucy shot Shrimp. Meanwhile, Hitch has found an informant, a sexy but oddly hostile waitress from Shrimp's club, who drops dark hints of illegal gambling and hidden bags of cash. Add to the mix a sultry nightclub singer, a cocky trumpet player, a bad-boy basketball pro with a mean punch, and assorted other oddballs and suspicious characters, and you might almost think you've fallen into the Baltimore version of a Janet Evanovich novel. But hold your hearses--Hitch's wisecracking style is entirely his own, and it's a pleasure to read. --Barrie Trinkle
|
Customer Reviews
|
Genre classic name-checks Marylandd landmarks
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-08-21
Plenty well-enough written to be five stars within its genre, but I knocked it down a peg because its lack of pretension to be other than a pleasant time passer. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you; I've read many worse.
This a fun, breezy, fast-moving modern mystery set in Baltimore (the detective went to Frostburg University, a small school in the frozen tundra of western Maryland which is also my wife's alma mater!) involving the mythical NBA team the Baltimore Blues. Now, this is a bit of a clunky device because most readers in the Mid-Atlantic or with an interest in the NBA will know that the real Baltimore Bullets moved to the Capital Center on the outskirts of DC 30 years ago and were renamed the Washington Bullets, then moved most recently into the heart of DC and renamed the Washington Wizards ("bullets" being politically incorrect in violence-prone DC). They're gone, and they ain't comin' back, Mr. Cockey. Get over it.
Sorry for the small digression for a mild beef. It really doesn't detract from the book other than to firmly plant it in the fictional ether where it belongs anyway. Its just that the book lacks the gravitas (I love to say that word out loud: "gravitas", "gravitas", "gravitas" . . . ) to be a classic. . It doesn't teach me, inspire me, sadden me, enrage me, move me.
But in this day and age, its ability to amuse me is Worth my time (see my Amazon profile for my ranking scale) and four stars. Historical aging may give it gravitas enough to move up: I consider some of the hard-boiled crime fiction of writers like Dashiell Hammett worthy of What a classic status. In any case, I'll read others by this author (in series order):
1 - The Hearse You Came in On (Hitchcock Sewell Mysteries)
2 - Hearse of a Different Color
3 - The Hearse Case Scenario
4 - Murder In the Hearse Degree: A Novel
|
|
Introduction to Series
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-03-09
I read this book as an introduction to this series. I found it a fun read and would probably be interested in reading more of them. The only problem I had with the storyline was the very often repeated, detailed descriptions of the hero's apparently extremely sexy ex-wife. I felt this could have been mentioned a little less often without in any way affecting the storyline. Altogether an enjoyable book.
|
|
Death Can Be Funny
Rating  (5)
Date: 2004-10-21
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This was the third in Cockey's Hitchock Sewell series and again a very enjoyable book. There were times that I didn't find it as amusing as the other two, but still very much enjoyed the book and will continue to read the series.
The main character is by far my favorite. He's such a smart alec and it's so fun to "watch" him mess with people.
I highly recommend this series as a very enjoyable mystery with comedy thrown in for good measure.
|
|
Enjoyed My Introduction to This Author
Rating (4)
Date: 2003-12-12
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I had never heard of Tim Cockey. The book was loaned to me and I enjoyed it. I could only give it four stars, because I felt it slowed down in places. I am interested in reading the others.
Baltimore has become a popular place for crime series. On television there was Homicide, Life on the Street, and the HBO Series, The Edge. It's a fun city to visit and some of this was brought out in the book. The Protagonist Hitch is funny and tart. He should put out a Private Detective shingle on the door of the funeral home. He is humorous next to his morose sidekick, Pete, the real private eye who wants to get out of the business.
Enjoy, tolerate the slowness in the writing at times. A romp through the streets of Baltimore and Rehoboth, Delaware.
|
|
Sorry, weaker than expected
Rating  (3)
Date: 2003-03-03
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Having thoroughly enjoyed the two previous Cockeys I was a bit disappointed in the latest offering. This is not a bad book in the genre but given the strength of the first two in the series, I felt that this one needed a bit of tightening. The jazz ambience worked well and Pete the hapless husband also struck the right note but I found that both Lucy, the dupe, and the poison dwarf failed to engage. Overall a slight sense that the same book but 50 pages shorter may have made more of an impact. That said, this remains a series to watch and fingers crossed for the next one...
|
|
|
|
|