Revenge of the Spellmans

Starred review from January 12, 2009
San Francisco PI Isabel “Izzy” Spellman endures court-ordered therapy sessions as well as blackmail in Lutz's wacky crime novel, the third entry (after Curse of the Spellmans
) in a series that keeps getting better and better. Albert and Olivia Spellman, Izzy's parents, want her to return to work for the family PI firm; otherwise, they may have to sell it. While Izzy contemplates their offer, she secretly moves into her brother's guest apartment; helps her elderly lawyer friend, Mort Schilling, accept his upcoming move to Florida; and mourns the loss of her bartending job. Will she rediscover her yen for snooping when she takes on “the Case of Ernie Black's Not Terribly Suspicious Wife Who Probably Wasn't Cheating on Him”? Or say sayonara to snooping? Hyper spy girl Rae, Izzy's teenage sister (who may have cheated on her PSAT), provides dizzy distractions. Punctuating the rapid-fire plot are amusing therapy session transcripts and footnotes.

The third installment of the Spellman Files finds Izzy Spellman sharing her journey through court-ordered therapy while unsuccessfully trying to avoid the family business. Lisa Lutz's humorous take on this 30-something overgrown adolescent is entertainingly brought to life by master narrator Christina Moore. Her deft handling of the many footnotes serving as wry asides keeps the story moving smoothly along Izzy's convoluted journey to avoid self-awareness. Moore transitions smoothly between the past and present and the partial transcripts of the required, but unwanted, therapy sessions, bringing to life all of Izzy's dysfunctional family and friends. Followers of the first two installments will welcome this latest adventure. Newcomers will quickly be brought up to speed through the ubiquitous footnotes. N.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine